Not All Monsters Breathe Fire
by sistaa-krimzz
Summary: Siblings Joshua and Amelia find themselves in Middle Earth in the company of a wizard, a hobbit and thirteen dwarves. A story of friendship, finding a new family despite unexpected circumstances and the bravery to protect that family. Romance (Fili/OC, Sigrid/OC) and humour. Rated T for some swearing and some violence. May be upgraded later.
1. Chapter 1

I ran as fast as my feet would carry me. Leaves and twigs crunched below my feet, and the bright greens of the forest rushed past my vision in a blur. Only when my feet felt as though they would spontaneously combust and my chest as though it would explode did I stop. I walked off of the path and sat down, leaning against a tree. My stomach heaved against the physical exertion but I felt better emotionally.

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Being twenty years of age, I had moved out of home a year before to study at university interstate. It was the start of Summer when I decided to visit my father and step-mother at their home in the outer suburbs of their home city. It was already becoming quite hot, but I quite enjoyed the heat of summer. I was at their house this afternoon when the argument started. As it always had, my father was the instigator of it.

"Amelia, Joshua, come and do the dishes _now."_ Dad yelled out. I was fine with finishing them off, and was already on my way over to helping him. However, my brother had gone to his room after lunch to finish off an assignment that was due in two days' time. Josh is seventeen years old and looks very much like me; we both have bright green eyes and chocolate brown hair. However, he is much taller than I am (much to my dismay).

My step-mother was at work today, therefore I knew it would be a better idea to help without backchat, to avoid any form of conflict that my father's partner could deter if she were here. After a few minutes of silence, he asked where Josh was. I noted the slight edge to the tone of his voice, and glanced sideways at him. To anyone that wouldn't know him, he looked mostly calm and composed; however, I knew him much better than that. I looked at his eyes and I could see a storm brewing behind the dark brown, almost black eyes.

"He has to finish an important assignment that is due on Tuesday", I simply said, carefully treading on what little thin ice there was left.

He dropped the china plate he was holding back into the sink with such a loud '_clang!_' that I jumped. I turned to face him just in time to catch sight of his back as he stormed away. Before he completely disappeared I heard enough of what he was muttering to know what would come next.

"Ungrateful fucking _children_. I cook them lunch and they can't even help out around the fucking house…" I sighed. Ever since our mother had died when I was eight and Josh was five, our father had changed and not for the better.

It had been few days before Christmas when our mum, Jessica, died. She was out buying presents for Josh and I; I remember the last moment I saw her as clear as day.

"But mum!", I had whined. "Please can I come with you!." My mum had simply smiled and knelt down in front of me.

"Darling, I have to do some _special_ shopping for Joshua, which means that you have to be a big girl and look after him for me while your father is doing house work!"

I folded my arms in front of my chest and pouted, but I knew I had to look after my little brother. "Okay mum", I had said.

She pulled me into her and gave me a great hug as she kissed my head. "I love you, my little sweet pea. Look after Joshua."

She had stood and turned around to walk towards the front door. As she was shutting it closed, she smiled at me with such love and happiness that it lit up the room. And that was the last that I ever saw of her.

After her car accident, my father spiralled. I was so little at the time, but I knew what was happening to him wasn't right. He drank and smoked weed every night, and I was left to look after Josh. I was so young. He barely paid attention to us and I was the one that would get Josh and myself ready for school every day and walk around the corner to the primary school we were enrolled.

It got slightly better when our father met his current partner when I was twelve, but we still weren't cared for.

I was brought back to the present when I heard a tremendous yell from down the corridor. Dropping the plate that was sitting idly in my hands, I ran quickly to my brothers' room. I heard what was happening before I saw it.

"You are an ungrateful piece of shit. You do nothing in this house and expect me to provide for you! Well not anymore!" I heard before I turned the corner.

My father was towering over Josh, and Josh looked terrified. Even though he was almost as tall as our father and also quite tough, I assumed the look in our father's eyes (that which I had seen earlier) was the cause of my brother's withdrawal. He was standing against a wall with a look on his face that screamed _"get me out of here now!"_

I ran over to stand in front of my brother. Yep, I was a hell of a lot shorter than the both of them, but I had stood up to my dad before and I would be damned if I would let him lay a hand on Josh.

"Don't you dare touch him," I growled out beneath a clenched jaw.

Our father hesitated slightly with a look in his eyes that I recognised as regret and confusion. What I did not recognise in time, however, was the smell of alcohol coming off of him. It was too late to do anything, before I saw the storm in his eyes return and his hand rose to hit.

I couldn't even get a word out before he slapped me in the face with such force that I was slammed sideways against the far wall, my head connecting with the brickwork. My vision was blurred with the injury to my head and the tears that spilled out of my eyes. And that was when I ran. I ran out of the door into the forest that surrounded our neighbourhood, my feet leading me away from the yells that drifted out behind me until I could no longer hear them.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

My breathing had calmed as I lay against the tree. I had my eyes closed, but I heard the sound of footsteps coming towards me in enough time to jump from where I was and start running again. The sound was getting louder and louder, and the person was so close to catching me as I struggled to stay ahead. I knew that it would be all over if I kept running and the person, who I was suspicious of being my father, caught me. So I turned around on my heel so suddenly that the person ran straight into me and knocked us both over.

"Umph! Ouch, what the hell?" I yelled, as I looked over and saw my brother lying sprawled next to me with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. I just glared at him as he spoke.

"Tag, you're it" he joked, before his grin was replaced by a small smile that showed a touch of pride. "Your fitness is improving! I guess your training is going well."

I smiled at him despite our current situation. "Yeah, well let me prove it to you by kicking your ass for toppling us both over!" While being at university, I had decided to start training in taekwondo and jiu jitsu. The decision was more to train myself in self-defence in case anything happened to me while living by myself; I didn't think that I would need it in my own parents' house. Even that didn't' protect me though.

Josh must have noticed my change in mood and the direction of my thoughts, because he quickly snapped me out of my inner monologue.

"Amelia, are you okay?" He put a hand gently to the side of my face that had been slapped by that monster, and he looked over the side of my head that connected with the wall. He grimaced, and I noticed that my temple felt wet.

I looked away from him to the ground and blinked furiously, trying to will away the onslaught of tears that threatened. I stood up quickly to avoid his gaze and began to walk again, however Josh had other ideas. He grabbed my hand gently and stopped me in my tracks, my back still faced away from him.

"Amelia.. I-You… You shouldn't have stood up to him back there.. I-I know that you are my older sister and you feel like you need to look after me.. But not at the expense of your health.."

When Josh said those words, my mothers' voice drifted back through my head. _"I love you, my little sweet pea. Look after Joshua." _Then the dam of tears that were threatening to flood over did exactly that. God damn it.

I sighed and turned around to my brother, closing the distance and hugging him as tightly as I could. "I promised mum I would look after you Josh, and that is exactly what I will keep doing." I smiled despite myself, and added "even if you are two heads taller than me and ten times tougher than me."

He chuckled as he unwrapped himself from our hug. "I think we should be getting back to civilisation, though neither of us is going back to that house. Do you want to go back to your apartment at university?" He asked nervously.

I just shrugged. "I don't know really, though it is probably a good idea.. I'm not leaving you here though, you know that? You can come and live with me!"

He smiled brightly at me, but then he suddenly looked around the forest and his smile faltered. I looked around too and noticed what he had just realised.

"It's too dark" I muttered. "We left around lunch time, and it was as bright as could be.. Now it's twilight, what's going on?"

Josh looked at me with a worried look on his face. "Let's go, now. I have a weird feeling about this."

We turned around towards the way we had run, and started walking in silence. After about fifteen minutes, the trees began to clear. We sighed in unison, glad that we were coming back into our suburb. We couldn't have been more wrong. As we stepped out into the clearing, we saw rolling green hills spreading out as far as we could see. There was a pond spreading out below and in between the hills, which reflected the beautiful oranges and reds of the setting sun. It was so incredible, don't get me wrong. But it was unfamiliar. I looked above me, and saw the stars coming out in the purple light. But they weren't the stars I knew..

"Josh, what the fucking hell is going on?" I said slowly. I was starting to panic hardcore and if not for a voice that called out to our right, I knew I would have begun to have an anxiety attack.

"Good evening!" The voice called out. Both Josh and I jumped and turned to face the voice to try and figure out who it was. A very tall man, even taller than Josh (seriously? Why do I have to be so short!) was walking over towards us. He wore a large grey hat that reminded me vaguely of Harry Potter, and a light grey cloak that reached the ground. He was an older man, but the energy that flowed off of him made me think that he was a hell of a lot stronger than what he appeared. I looked at his eyes and he seemed like an extremely wise man; however, he just seemed extremely curious right now.

"May I ask who you two may be, then?" Josh and I were still in complete and utter shock, but I was the first to recover. Kind of.

"M-my name is Amelia Cosgrove, a-and this is my b-brother Joshua. And-uh, who the heck are you?" My fear got the better of me and I became a bit more defensive than I needed to be when I asked my question. I was completely aware that I had put myself in between Josh and this giant, to which the old man noticed. His lips turned upwards in a slight smile and there was a glint in his eyes that, to me, showed respect.

"My name is Gandalf the Grey, one of the five wizards of the Istari." He nodded his head slightly to introduce himself. When he looked towards us again, he must have seen our panicked and shocked expressions, because he added "I will not hurt you, do not fret young ones. Where are you from? Your attire displays something not of Middle Earth.."

My jaw dropped. Middle Earth? Gandalf? This was all part of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books and movies. I wracked my memory to try and remember the stories which I was so fond of, but I couldn't recall anything of what I had read over the years, besides Gandalf and Middle Earth.. It was like there was a wall in my head that I couldn't quite get through, and the information wasn't coming to me.

Josh seemed to be having the same inner mental meltdown as I was. He looked up at Gandalf with wide eyes and his mouth opened and closed several times which made him look like a goldfish.

"Gandalf…." He said. Before he could continue, I spoke up to answer the question that was put to us. "Um, yeah, you would be right about that.. We were walking in the forest near our house and then we ended up walking out into this place" I said, while I gestured my arm to encompass everything that was in front of us. "I don't know how to explain it.. This isn't part of our world.."

Gandalf just hummed and nodded his head slightly as though he was making a decision in his mind. "Well, no point standing around in this chill! I have a friends' house nearby that I was on my way to visit. We can talk in more detail about what has happened on the way there. There will be plenty of food, a warm hearth and-"he looked down towards my face pointedly, "-perhaps some ointments to heal your wounds young lady."

I had almost forgotten about my face and the side of my head. I automatically put my hand to my cheek and regretted it instantly. I hissed slightly in pain; it was swollen and would definitely be bruised. I let out a long sigh, and looked back to Gandalf, who looked down at me understandingly.

We began walking beside Gandalf along a pebbled pathway. "Start from the beginning, my friends."


	2. Chapter 2

As we walked along in the fading sunlight, we told Gandalf of not only the events that transpired that afternoon, but of our mother, our fathers spiralling and abuse and his new partner. We also decided to tell him about the books and movies that existed where we came from that were based on the place we were currently in. We told him that we could no longer remember the details of said movies and books, however.

Gandalf stayed in silence during our story, absorbing each detail of information that we had told him. After a few minutes of silence while we walked, he finally spoke.

"It is not unheard of, creatures appearing in our world that are of unknown origin, as well as men, elves and dwarves alike disappearing suddenly from this world. Even while being a wizard, yes, I am unsure of how this magic works. It seems as though it was dumb-luck, or perhaps fate, that you found yourself here in Middle Earth. I, myself, believe the latter; I think that you have been brought here for a reason. However, that reason is unknown to me as of yet.

"I propose to you Miss Amelia, and you Master Joshua, that you accompany me on a quest. Perhaps the answers you are searching for will be found along the way. Do you accept?"

I was having a hard time trying to digest everything Gandalf was saying; especially the part about dwarves and elves- is he actually being serious right now? In response, I answered his question with another question. "Is there a way that we can get back to our world? Or are we stuck here?"

Josh looked at me as though I had read his thoughts, and then looked at Gandalf. The old man just sighed. "I am unsure if there is a known and reliable way back to your world. If there is, I have no knowledge of it and I have been around for an age. At this point, Miss Amelia, I would say no there is not."

I thought for a long time as we walked up a small slope in the path. I had left behind a university course, that to say the least was a bore. I didn't have many friends at university anyway. I had split from my boyfriend earlier in the year, so I didn't have a significant other. The only family I cared about was standing by my side, and if going back meant he had to continue to live with our father, then I would keep him here as long as possible. Even if I didn't manage to get back to my world, what was _I_ missing out on?

We had stopped walking suddenly, and I looked up at Gandalf with a slight smile. "Alright, count me in on this quest of yours." I looked at Josh who was also looking at Gandalf, a hint of excitement dancing in his eyes. "Well, if Amelia is going, then I guess I _have _to go too" he said, while smirking over at me.

"Good! Well I suppose it is time for you to meet your host, Mr Bilbo Baggins. Just be warned, he is unaware that he has more than a dozen guests this evening." Gandalf chuckled to himself, while I laughed in half disbelief. "You mean that you didn't actually tell him that you were having a raging party at his house? Gandalf, you sly dog!" he let out another guilty chuckle while Josh barked out a laugh. "I think I am going to like you Mr Gandalf!"

The three of us walked up towards a perfect little wooden fence. Joshua opened the gate for both Gandalf and I, where the old man proceeded to walk up the steps and knock on the perfectly circled, green door with his staff. _How odd_, I thought to myself. The door seemed to be built into the hill, which made me wonder if it was like a cave or something. I remembered quickly that the wizard had said that it would be quite comfortable, which made me feel more at ease.

After a few moments I could hear a yelling coming from inside, increasing as the person came closer. "…. No, no, no! There are quite enough dwarves in my living room as it is. If this is some plot-heads idea of a joke, ha-ha"- he laughed, vaguely sarcastically- "well it is in poor taste!" The door suddenly flew open to show a short little man standing in the doorway. He had slightly long blonde hair that fell over his head in waves, which looked ruffled and tousled by running hands through them over and over. He was wearing a robe over what looked to be pyjamas, and he was wearing- nope, not wearing any shoes, his feet were just super hairy and really big. Whoops.

By the look of his distraught face, this must be the Bilbo that Gandalf had informed was our host. When he saw Gandalf, he dropped his shoulders and sighed, with a look that said '_of course it was Gandalf, I should have known_ '.

Gandalf walked inside, greeting Bilbo as pleasantly as possible, obviously trying to smooth over inviting lots of people to poor Bilbo's house without permission. He then turned to Josh and I to introduce us. "This, Mr Bilbo Baggins, is Miss Amelia and Master Joshua. I met them along the way and they are far away from home. If you would be so kind to house them for the night and allow them access to new clothes, food and ointments, that would be lovely."

Josh and I finally stepped inside the little house; which, by the way was most definitely not a cave. It was warm and smelled like vegetables and stew. I breathed in the aroma and my stomach conveniently rumbled loud enough to alert each of them to how hungry I was. I looked up at Bilbo, catching him looking at the side of my face. _Shit man_, I thought, _it must be worse than I first realised_. Bilbo looked away slightly awkwardly, but collected himself enough to say "Follow me, I will show you to some new clothes and then we can try to find some food, if there is any left that is" Bilbo glanced sadly towards what must be the living room, where a large amount of noise was coming from, and led us in the opposite direction.

We followed a large corridor and after several doors, we stopped at one. Bilbo opened it up and shooed us inside, beginning to pull out clothes hesitantly. It seemed as though he was going to have a hard time parting from his belongings. I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly before looking up at me with a confused look in his features.

"Bilbo, we don't need anything special to wear. Just something that is more appropriate than what we are currently clothed in." I looked down at myself pointedly, and realised I was not exaggerating at all. I was currently dressed in a neon green training shirt, black running shorts and orange sneakers. I looked over at Josh, and while he was dressed a bit better, he was still wearing jeans, a t-shirt and converse.

Bilbo nodded at me with a thankful look and started to pull out clothes from another drawer. "Unfortunately I don't own any shoes, perhaps Gandalf can find two pairs someho- ah! Here, I have a tunic and a pair of slacks that will fit you Miss Amelia, and also, where is it… A-ha! A vest as well, that should do.. Master Joshua, it might be a bit difficult finding some clothes for you, though my great, great, great uncle was quite larger than a usual hobbit, and I feel I have some of his clothing still here… Yes! Here, a tunic and slacks for you, pray they may be a bit small still, hmm.. I will keep looking, anything to get a break from those blasted dwarves!"

I was shocked to hear the mention of dwarves for the second time. Man, this whole situation was making my head hurt. I was starting to believe I had been knocked unconscious when I hit that wall.

"What do you mean dwarves?" Josh piped up. As if on cue, a loud yell and cheer came from down the corridor. Bilbo sighed and looked at us both in dismay, before excusing himself and making his way down the corridor to the source of the commotion.

As he left, I plonked myself down in the closest chair and closed my eyes. This whole situation was freaking me out. How the hell did we manage to land ourselves in Middle Earth, in the midst of dwarves, hobbits and a wizard? Josh must have realised that I felt as though I was about to hyperventilate at any moment, as he came and sat down in a chair next to me and took my hand.

I opened my eyes and smiled at him. There was a look of worry in his eyes, and I instantly felt horrible for not keeping myself together for the sake of Josh. "I'm fine Josh, don't worry. It's just this whole situation is crazy. Like, are we sure that I didn't knock myself unconscious when I hit that wall?"

He smiled sadly, but shook his head. "I don't know exactly how the hell this has happened.. But we are here now that's for sure. You haven't died or anything, and neither have I." He paused in thought for a moment, before he added "I hope."

I grimaced at the possibility that I had died and this was some kind of weird trippy after-life dream that I imagined, but I put that thought to the back of my mind when my stomach rumbled again. "Come on, let's get changed and go out to get some food before it's all gone."

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We made our way down the corridor towards the dining room after changing into the clothes Bilbo gave to us. He was right; Josh's clothes were still a little bit small, but he could wear them. The tunic was tight across the shoulders and the slacks ended mid-shin, but it was the best we had under current circumstances. We followed the sound of yelling and cheering to the dining room, and turned the corner to meet Bilbo's unexpected guests.

We stood there for a few moments, trying to take in the scene around us. There were short, stocky men with long hair and beards everywhere, all sitting around the table scoffing down food and sloshing down whatever alcohol they were drinking and laughing with one another. So these were the 'dwarves' Bilbo was having to deal with. Poor guy, their table manners were horrendous. It didn't take long for one of the dwarves to notice Josh and I standing awkwardly in the doorway, and the dark haired man with a funny looking hat yelled out.

"Look lads, who do we have here?" he called out. The entire group of dwarves suddenly stopped eating, drinking and talking, and went completely silent as they turned around in their seats to face us. Luckily, Gandalf picked that moment to come back into the room, saving us from the completely awkward silence that had transpired.

"These, my friends, are siblings Miss Amelia and Master Joshua. They will be accompanying us on our journey. Amelia, Joshua, this is the company of dwarves." Gandalf proceeded to introduce each of them while pointing to each man-er, I mean dwarf. "This is Dwalin and his brother Balin, brothers Dori, Nori and Ori, brothers Fili and Kili, and brothers Bifur, Bofur and Bombur, oh and yes! Oin and Gloin, also brothers."

_Hmm, I'm going to have a great time remembering each of their names_, I thought sarcastically. Some members of the group looked over to us with curiosity, and I noted that it was mainly the younger ones. However, most of the older dwarves looked at us warily. One of the dwarves stood suddenly, looking at us with what seemed to be anger. He had a bald head with tattoos covering the top, and he seemed to be taller than most of the other dwarves. Dwalin, I think his name was.

"What right do you have to invite them on _our _quest for _our_ homeland, Gandalf? Have you even consulted Thorin? Dwalin spat, looking at us only briefly to glare daggers our way. I glared back at him, almost daring him to continue.

"Thorin has invited me on this quest, Master Dwalin, and he asked me to find a burglar. So I have found three." He swept his arm out to encompass us, and must have realised that Bilbo was not there, so he added "including Master Baggins. Without them, your quest to Erebor will be for naught."

Dwalin sat back down with more attitude than necessary, with arms crossed and another glare being sent out our way. Gandalf spoke again, addressing the company. "Miss Amelia and Master Joshua have travelled very far to be here, and the least you could do is to share in food and ale, as they are famished from their journey."

And with that, most of the company went back to their food and drink, laughing about Dwalin being put back in his place by Gandalf. However, four members of the company, the ones that I noted to be the youngest, stood up and walked over to my brother and I.

The dwarf that had spotted us in the doorway minutes earlier formally introduced himself to us first. "Bofur, at your service", he said with a deep bow. He stood back up and gave us a big toothy grin; I instantly relaxed, and returned the smile. He seemed like a very friendly and genuine dwarf, which was a relief after Dwalin's outburst.

"Amelia, um-at your service?" I replied, obviously unfamiliar with the formalities. "And Josh, at yours" my brother added. The second dwarf, who looked to be the youngest, popped up beside Bofur and introduced himself also. "Ori, at your service." He smiled shyly at us, looking just as nervous as I felt. "It is nice to meet you Ori, I am Amelia, and this is my brother Josh."

He only had a moment to smile graciously back at us, before the last two dwarves came over and grabbed Ori in a headlock, wrestling with the young dwarf who looked extremely embarrassed. The blonde dwarf let Ori go first, and bowed while saying "Fili, at your service." The brunette also let Ori go and bowed alongside Fili, adding "Kili, at your service." So, these two were brothers. I looked at them, but didn't find many similarities besides their eagerness to joke around, and their extremely good looks. _Nope, Amelia, do not go there._

I smiled at them, "I'm Amelia, and this is Josh, my brother." Josh and I smiled at the brothers, before my stomach made a noise that sounded like an oncoming storm. "I could kill for some food, guys." I said, as Kili grabbed my arm and dragged us over to the table. "Come, sit with Fili and I!"

I sat in between the two brothers, while Josh was walked over to the table with Bofur, who seemed to be asking hundreds of questions to which he couldn't keep up. "So, where are you from laddie? You are awfully tall, which makes me think you are an elf, but you don't have the pointy ears.. Which is good, us lot aren't too fond of elves" He made a disgusted look to emphasise his point. "Anyway, what line of work are you in? Building? Smithing?" Bofur continued to ask questions while Josh ate hungrily at the food on the table.

I looked down and started grabbing at the food near me, piling vegetables, cheese and various sorts of meat onto my plate. I felt absolutely ravenous. Realising that my table manners weren't any better than that of the dwarves that I had inwardly criticised earlier, I slowly continued to place my food onto my plate. While I began delicately eating the vegetables, I glanced sideways to see the brothers smirking at me.

"What?" I said, making sure I ate my mouthful before speaking. They just laughed, before Fili spoke. "Lass, as you have probably observed, table manners are not something of importance to dwarves. Eat up; you will need your strength for the journey ahead. We leave in the morning." He smiled and winked at me, which made me blush ridiculously so I put my head down and began to stuff my mouth full of food. Oh my freaking god it was delicious. It all tasted so different, like it was fresher and cleaner, which wasn't what I was used to.

As I was finishing off my first plate, a large flagon was placed in front of me. I looked to my left and saw Kili smirking at me, after he gave one to Josh. "Hey!" I called out, "you're not old enough to drink that, you aren't eighteen for seven more months!" pointing to the flagon that was half raised to his mouth.

On either side of me, Kili dropped his flagon and Fili spluttered his ale everywhere. Luckily the other dwarves were still too engrossed in their own stories to notice, minus the four young dwarves, Josh and I. "What did I say?" I exclaimed, looking between the two brothers and Josh. Fili was wide-eyed but recovered first, laughing in half disbelief. "Are you telling me that your brother is seventeen?"

"Well, yeah, I mean.. What's wrong with that? I'm twenty years old." Well that was definitely the wrong thing to say. Kili and Fili burst out into laughter while Ori and Bofur chuckled to themselves. "Miss Amelia, you and your brother are but babes. I am 82 years old and still considered young!" Fili choked out between laughs.

"You're… You're 82? How? What?" I spluttered out, very unintelligently, as Fili and Kili began laughing even harder. I managed to compose myself before retorting "Well, let me just say, you're looking pretty good for an old man", winking at him before taking a drink of my flagon which was filled with ale (it will have to do). Fili blushed just as badly as I had earlier, and I giggled while starting on my second plate of food which I quickly finished.

My attention was drawn to Bilbo's voice in the corridor, again seeming very distraught. Ori, Fili and Kili left to see what the commotion was, and I moved over to sit with Josh. He seemed to be enjoying himself, stuffing his face full of his third plate of food and finishing it off with a sip of his ale.

"Don't drink too much of that, I don't want you getting drunk before our _big quest_ in the morning. I smirked at my younger brother who smiled back. We settled into a comfortable silence as we looked around the room. The remaining dwarves had finished off all of the food that had been on the table, though they were continuing to drink and laugh amongst themselves.

"-What should I do with my plate", Ori said from the corridor, to which I heard Fili reply "Here you go Ori, give it to me." All of a sudden we heard a '_swoosh!' _of something being thrown through the air, and a yell. Bilbo didn't seem to be happy with whatever Fili had decided to do with his plate.

That was when Bofur and three other dwarves at the table began to stomp their feet on the ground beneath where they sat, and started using their cutlery to scrape together into what sounded like the beginning of a song. Bilbo came in and to yell at the dwarves at the table.

"Can you not do that! You'll blunt them!"

"Ooh, do you hear that lads? He says we'll blunt the knives!" Bofur called out with a great big grin on his face. And then the singing started. By the sound of the voices in the corridor, Kili or Fili begun the song that every one of the dwarves joined in on.

_Blunt the knives, bend the forks!  
Smash the bottles and burn the corks!  
Chip the glasses and crack the plates!  
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates -_

Cut the cloth, tread on the fat!  
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat!  
Pour the milk on the pantry floor!

Splash the wine on every door!  
Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl;  
Pound them up with a thumping pole;  
And when you've finished, if they are whole,  
Send them down the hall to roll!  
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates! 

I was finding it hard to believe that they made it up on the spot; but it was a cheeky and cheery song that was accompanied by bowls and plates being thrown around the dining room and corridor, through to the kitchen. Josh and I just sat by slightly dumbfounded but also amused by the turn of events. I narrowly missed being hit in the head by a plate as we joined in and sang the last line of their improvised song.

Bilbo rushed in just as the song finished, seeing that all of his precious bowls and plates had been washed and stacked on the kitchen table, as the rest of the company laughed at his expression, including Gandalf. Unfortunately, our fun seemed to be cut short with a loud knock on the door that quickly silenced our fun.

"He's here," Gandalf stated ominously.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! So, this is my first story/fanfiction, therefore I am very new to this so don't go too hard on the criticism! I am loosely following the plot of the movies in my story, though I am changing parts as I please just to keep it a little bit fresh (even though I am writing a story similar to ones that have been done before; I just wanted to try it out!). I hope you all enjoy :) **

**Note: I don't own any of the story or characters besides my OC's (unfortunately).**

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Each member of the company made their way through the corridor towards the front door. Josh walked with his new friend Bofur, while I trailed behind. I was stopped by a hand gently holding onto my forearm, grounding me in place.

I stiffened up and turned to face the offender, relaxing only slightly when I saw that it was Fili. I still shrugged out of his reach though, because it had put me on edge to be honest. I thought about what had happened that day, and quickly pushed it back out of my memory. I didn't want to think about what my father had done to me, because it was making me feel incapable of looking after myself.

Fili must have seen these emotions play out on my face, because he cast me a look of understanding, though he stayed out of my comfort zone this time. "Who did this to you, Miss Amelia? Some of the lads noticed, and we became concerned" He said, while gesturing to my cheek. His hand lingered close to my face for a split second before he put his arm back by his side. I looked down at my bare feet a few moments before replying.

"A story for another time, maybe Fili." I looked back up at his very handsome face, before adding "Besides, it looks like we have another visitor. Bilbo is going to be so pleased with this."

I turned around and continued down the corridor, catching the last of a conversation between Bilbo and an unfamiliar voice.

"He looks more like a grocer than a burglar" the new voice stated to the company, and I noticed Bilbo looked extremely embarrassed and confused. I honestly felt sorry for the poor hobbit. Gandalf then turned to Josh and me, just seconds after I entered the room.

"Miss Amelia and Master Joshua, this is Thorin Oakenshield, King under the Mountain and leader of this company." Gandalf turned back to Thorin, stating "The siblings will be joining us on our quest, as I have also chosen them as our burglars."

Thorin walked slowly up to Joshua and I. He had an energy around him that definitely indicated some form of royalty, and it was hard not to flinch away from the power of his presence. "A woman, and an elf-like creature?" He stated while looking us up and down. "I'll be damned if I have either on this quest."

Did I just hear that right? I glanced behind Thorin and saw Dwalin, with the biggest smirk I'd ever seen on a person, or a dwarf for that matter. Despite his intimidating aura, that pissed me right off and I took a step towards Thorin. I was so glad that I was the same height as the dwarf; otherwise it would have been super awkward. I puffed out my chest slightly (making me feel oh-so masculine) before I spoke.

"Do you think that just because I am a woman, that makes me less than you? Do you think that just because I have boobs, that I am suddenly incapable of doing things that you are able to do?-" I noticed Thorin shift uncomfortably at the mention of the female anatomy "-Oh, and my brother is not a fucking elf, can't you tell by the bloody ears?"

Thorin looked at me for a split-second like I had just kicked a puppy, before his eyes narrowed at me. "This is my quest and I will choose my companions according to how adequate their skills are for the journey." Thorin looked pointedly over at my brother before walking down the corridor towards the dining room.

Most of the dwarves had followed Thorin through to the dining room before I spoke again.

"What an ass." Josh just nodded in agreement, before Kili spoke up. "Aye, and that is our uncle. You will get used to him, though" he laughed, as he walked to the dining room with Gandalf. Josh and Bilbo followed suit.

Ah, _crap_. I had just insulted not only a King and the leader of this quest, but the cute brothers' uncle; that was surely not going to get me any brownie points. Fili was there again, seemingly waiting for me. I sighed, and he just looked at me and chuckled. "I guess any chance of going on this quest has gone out the window" I said.

"No, lass, I would not worry about that. Uncle is not used to having anyone standing up to him, much less a woman. Even if he does not agree at first, we can persuade him." He smiled at me as we walked back down the corridor.

"Oh, you're going to persuade him? And why would you do that now?" I retorted, and smirked when I saw the beginnings of a blush dusting his cheeks. "No," he started, "I simply meant that Gandalf would be able to talk some sense into Thorin, if no one else." He looked slightly embarrassed, and I just laughed.

"Hey, if you wanted me to go on this adventure with you, all you had to do was ask," I said, before walking into the dining room and standing behind Kili and Fili, who proceeded to sit with his brother. He still looked embarrassed, but smirked at me over his shoulder as Dwalin began to speak to Thorin about someone called Dain. The king himself had sat at the head of the table, with Gandalf sat to his left.

This dwarf called Dain had apparently refused to join their quest, and I wondered why. The group looked slightly disheartened at the news from Thorin. At this point, Bilbo came back into the room (I wondered where he had gotten off to), and asked the company if they were going on a quest. Obviously Gandalf hadn't informed Bilbo that he was to join their journey; I had known the wizard for all of a few hours, but I was picking up that he was rather sneaky.

I looked at Bilbo's face, and he looked slightly terrified but what I saw foremost was curiosity; he was looking down at a map that Gandalf had produced. Despite being extremely put out by having thirteen dwarves, two humans and a wizard show up on his doorstep for dinner that was nothing short of loud and boisterous, he wasn't doing too badly. He hadn't tried to kick them out (from what I had seen, even after Thorin's condescending remarks), and I felt like he was a really good person- um, hobbit even if he seemed to be a little bit of a recluse.

Coming back to reality, I heard who I recognised as Balin addressing the group. "The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." He looked around at the company, as if to emphasise his statement.

"Hey, who are you calling dim!" one of the dwarves yelled. The others erupted into bouts of disagreements and anger, until Fili decided to have his say.

"We may be few in number, but we're fighters, to the last dwarf!" To continue his brother's positive outlook on the situation, Kili added "And you forget; we have a wizard in our company! Gandalf would have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!"

I couldn't see his face, but by the tone of excitement in his voice I could only imagine that he was grinning like a child that had just been given an ice-cream covered in rainbow sprinkles.

Wait-what the fuck- did he just say dragon?

"Well, I wouldn't say that.." Gandalf trailed off, in response to Kili's statement. He was starting to look rather uncomfortable.

"How many then? Go on, give us a number!" a burly dwarf yelled. Gandalf obviously couldn't think of a way to get out of this pickle. He sat there in silence a few moments, before he began to choke on the smoke of the pipe he had sitting in between his lips.

The dwarves again started yelling and stood up in anger this time, arguing and yelling words foreign to me across the table. It was getting worse, and I saw more than heard Bilbo attempting to calm them down. However, it was Thorin, who had been absent from the conversation for quite some time, who finally spoke. Well, I say spoke. It was more of a roar, basically.

"Silence!" he bellowed over the company as he stood abruptly from his seat. The reaction was instantaneous; the energy that flowed off of him was so intimidating that every single dwarf sat down within milliseconds, and all arguments ceased. Even Bilbo took several steps back from his place behind Thorin.

"If we have read the signs, do you not think that others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look East to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor!" He ended his pep-talk with words from a language that I couldn't understand, and I made a note to ask one of the dwarves what it meant later on.

Each member of the company yelled out cheers of agreement, except for Balin, who was turning out to be a real party-pooper.

"You forget; the front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain." He stated solemnly.

"Ah, but Master Balin, there is another entrance, only known to few, fewer of which still live this day," Gandalf spoke while pulling out what looked to be a large key, a smile hinting at his lips.

Thorin suddenly perked up as he saw what Gandalf held. "How came you by this?" he half whispered to the wizard, his gaze transfixed on the key.

"Your father passed this onto me, to be held for sake-keeping. Now, it is yours." Gandalf replied, passing the heirloom to stunned Thorin. He took the key gently, running his fingers over the inclinations and raised edges.

I looked at the other dwarves in the room. They looked on in wonder, excitement and curiosity. "If there is a key, there must be a door!" Fili exclaimed, to which I rolled my eyes. _Great deduction, Sherlock_, I thought sarcastically. I had try and suppress a snort of laughter when Kili then added "There's another way in!" The brothers were speaking in earnest, but I couldn't take them seriously when they stated the blaringly obvious. Gandalf smiled at the brothers, addressing the company as he did so. "There is another entrance, hidden to anyone that does not know what to look for. But we have a key, and a map."

"However, dwarf doors are invisible when closed. The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle-earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done."

"That's why we need a burglar!" Ori piped up.

"Oh yes, and a good one at that. You would need an expert, I'd expect." Bilbo had picked the wrong moment to put in his two cents, and for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight, I felt sorry for the oblivious hobbit.

"And are you?" the dwarf called Dori asked.

"Am I what?" Bilbo replied after looking behind him to make sure the question wasn't directed at someone else.

"He says he's an expert!" yelled a hearing impaired dwarf, whom I vaguely remembered being named Oin.

"What? No, no, no, no, I'm not a burglar! I've never stolen a thing in my life" Bilbo called over the top of the group, with a hint of pride in his statement.

Again, the group exploded into arguments between themselves over the 'inadequacy' of their burglar. It was starting to give me a damn headache, and I was about to tell at them to shut the hell up, when Gandalf beat me to it.

He stood up, towering above the company. The shadows from behind the wizard seemed to convulse and expand, darkness creeping from the corner of the room. Anger rolled off of Gandalf in waves and I cringed back even before he spoke. "If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he shall be." He barely had to raise his voice, but he was so intimidating and I realised that I wasn't the only one in the room that had cowered away from him.

Once the room had been silenced, the shadows began to retreat back into the corner of the room to god knows where, and the anger that had radiated from Gandalf dissipated. He looked much calmer, and he continued to speak in a more light-hearted tone.

"Hobbits are especially light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And Bilbo has two partners to help him; this will give us a distinct advantage, as the scent of the three will be unfamiliar to the dragon. You asked me to find a burglar for your company. While I had only initially chosen Mister Bilbo, it seems as though fate has it to intervene, and this is why I have also decided that Miss Amelia and Master Joshua to accompany us."

"While there are some amongst you that have your doubts, you must trust me on this. They have more to offer than any of you know, including themselves." Gandalf looked at Bilbo pointedly, who looked absolutely bewildered.

"But why would you need a burglar?" Bilbo asked desperately, obviously extremely put out by being named one of the burglars on a quest he still knew little about. I was starting to feel the same way.

"To steal from Smaug, of course!" Bofur yelled as though it were extremely obvious. Bilbo shifted uncomfortably at the thought of stealing from someone, but by the gist of their earlier conversations I was beginning to think it was a some_thing_.

"And who exactly is Smaug?" Bilbo squeaked, his face paling ever so slightly. His questions were mirroring exactly what I was thinking.

"Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest of calamities of our age." Bofur smiled at Bilbo, who still looked utterly confused. "Claws like meat-hooks, teeth like razors. Think furnace, with wings."

If he was trying to make Bilbo feel better, he was doing a terrible job. I was also starting to freak out, _again._ But seriously. What. The. Fuck. They were going to steal from a dragon, which means Josh and I were also going to steal from a dragon. Yeah, no thanks.

"Yes, I know what a dragon is! Bilbo exclaimed in a voice that had become slightly high-pitched. Thorin spoke up again, directing his comment to Balin.

"Pass the burglars their contracts." Thorin glanced at me, and- obviously seeing my distressed look at the thought of_ stealing from a bloody dragon_- smirked.

He was definitely banking on me to chicken out at the mention of a dragon, and he was almost right. But I was way too stubborn, so I took the contract and began reading. I glanced up at Josh, who did not look quite as shocked as I felt. I gave him a questioning look, and he mouthed the words "_I'll explain after_", and continued to read. I wondered about his lack of reaction to the news we just received, but I suspected that Bofur must have filled him in on at least part of their plan over dinner.

In the meantime, Bilbo had taken the contract and had begun to read parts of it aloud, which were not comforting in the slightest.

"Laceration… Evisceration… Incineration?" he squealed again, looking at the company in shock. I saw him begin to pale even further, so I walked over to the poor little hobbit and put my hand on his arm.

"Are you alright Bilbo?" I asked gently, genuinely concerned for him as he wobbled on his two hairy feet and began to take in short, sharp breaths of air. Bofur decided to speak up again, and I shot him a dark look as he did so.

"Aye, it'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye. Flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You're nothing more than a pile of ash."

Bilbo leant over himself, digging his palms into his knees as he did so.

"Are you alright, laddie?" Balin called out. Bilbo stood up, seemingly getting over his anxiety attack. However, after all of a few moments and a few deep breaths, he replied with a simple "nope" and proceeded to pass out on the ground at my feet.

"Look what you've done now, Bofur, you've scared the bejesus out of him!" I called over to the dwarf while I knelt down to check on the unconscious hobbit.

Gandalf stood from his chair, lifted the small hobbit gently and carried him to another room. I followed while listening (and attempting to ignore) Thorin speak to the dwarves at the table. "There is no room on this quest for folk who faint at the mere thought of what lies ahead."

Thorin was powerful and what-not, but the more he spoke down to those who he thought weren't as good as him, the more I disliked him. I walked into a small living area after Gandalf, who placed Bilbo onto an armchair by the fire just as Josh walked into the room behind me.

"Come on Josh, I need to talk to you." Josh nodded in understanding before following me out of the first living room into what looked like another one just down the corridor.

I stepped into the room and found a candle to light, before I turned around to face him. "Josh," I started. "I don't like the sound of this. Dragons? Danger? Stealing? I don't remember the details of the movies or books, but I can recall the gist enough to know that it isn't all rainbows and daisies. I need to look after you, and I'm not letting you go into this. We need to find a way home."

Josh looked at me resolutely, until I told him we needed to go home. That's when he looked betrayed and angry.

"You can't just make me go back Amelia! You know what will happen when we get back. I'll be forced to live with our asshole of a father again, and I won't be able to get out until I'm 18!."

I started to argue back, but he interrupted before I could barely get a handful of words out. "No, don't start. You know that even you wouldn't be able to get me out of it. I wouldn't be able to live with you because he would just drag me back, you know that! I cannot and will not spend one more day in that place!"

"You don't know how bad it's gotten, Amelia. Ever since you left, he could only take his anger out on me." At this point, he had started to tear up. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I took a step forward with my hand outstretched to try and comfort him, but he knocked it away so fast that it sent shockwaves through my body. I flinched at the contact and instantly took several steps backwards.

He then realised that he had pushed me away, and looked even more distressed, trying to reason with me through his pleading eyes.

"Amelia.. Today, it… It wasn't the first time he had… He had hit one of his kids…" It took so much effort to get those few words out, and with eyes downcast, he hesitantly lifted up his tunic. What I saw was a pattern of fading yellow patches and bright purple bruises across his ribs and stomach, covering no less than a third of his torso.

I couldn't believe it. My jaw gaped open and I couldn't tear my eyes away. That bastard, that absolute monster. I couldn't believe he had done that to my baby brother. The anger bubbled up inside my chest and pulsed through my arms, but was soon replaced when I realised what he had said. "_Once you left, he could only take his anger out on me_…"

Guilt, sorrow and sadness washed over my body once I had put two and two together. I collapsed on my ass on the wooden floor of the hobbit hole. If I hadn't left my brother there, he wouldn't have gotten those bruises. He wouldn't have been beaten by my father. I had broken the one promise I had made to my mother, and I hadn't done my job as an older sister. I was so angry at myself and absorbed in my self-loathing that I hadn't realised Josh had come over and sat down next to me. He smiled sadly as he wiped my tears away. I didn't realise that I had been crying. Again.

"I was supposed to protect you, Josh. Why didn't you tell me?" I asked as I looked down at my hands.

"I knew that there was nothing you could do about it, and I didn't want you to give up on your dreams," he replied simply. It was then that I realised that my younger brother was far braver than I had ever been or will ever be. It was also in that moment that I made my choice. We had been brought to this world for a reason, whether it was to get away from our father or to help these dwarves on their quest, I did not know. Either way, I was not going to force my brother to go back to our world to be beaten and humiliated by our father.

I looked up at him, snapping myself out of my current state. "I am so sorry Josh," I smiled at him, before taking his hand and continuing. "While I am here, I will never let anyone hurt you ever again. We won't go back, but I don't know if I can let you go on this quest. We could both be killed."

That had him caught. He looked down at his hands thoughtfully, before looking back up to me. There was a new spark of determination in his eyes, and he began to speak again. "I was talking to Bofur during dinner, as I saw that you noticed. He was telling me about a place called Erebor, their homeland. Well, it was their homeland, before the dragon named Smaug came upon it and killed many of their kin and almost all of the men in the neighbouring city of Dale. They were forced to leave their home as the Dragon claimed Thorin's grandfathers' gold. Bofur was only young when it happened, but he remembers how horrible it was. There was death everywhere and they lost almost everything.

"The point is, I want to help them. We know slightly how they feel, minus the fire-breathing dragon part, but we know what it feels like to lose someone you love. Besides, we were brought here for a reason, and I'd like to believe it's more than coincidence. Like Gandalf said, I think we were brought here because they need our help."

He still looked determined to help the dwarves, and I could see a hint of fear, I presumed because he believed that I would say no. He was right though, utterly and completely. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Okay, fine!" I put my hands up in defeat, as he wrapped his arms around me in a great big hug. "But," I continued once he let me go, "we have to look out for each other. It's going to be dangerous, and I would die before I let anyone hurt you again." I smiled slightly at his questioning look, but before he could ask what I meant, I jumped up quickly, pulling him up with me.

"Come on! We need to go and sign our lives away to Balin." We walked back past the first living room, where I saw a now conscious Bilbo speaking seriously with Gandalf. We continued to walk into the dining room which was filled with dwarves in quiet conversations with each other. It was a complete 180 compared to the festivities from earlier in the night. The dwarves stopped speaking and looked to Joshua and I. Josh was the first to speak up.

"Amelia and I have decided to join your quest as your burglars. We will sign the contracts if you still have them, Balin?"

Balin looked slightly sad that we had actually decided to join the quest, and Thorin and Dwalin had scowls etched into their faces. The four dwarves that we had already befriended, however, let out cheers.

Bofur stood up and clapped Joshua on the back, and while Josh winced slightly at the contact, he grinned right back at the dwarf.

"I'm glad to hear it, lad! Both of ya will be fine additions to our company." Bofur stated, oblivious to the looks he was getting from Dwalin and Thorin in particular.

Balin handed over the contracts, which we proceeded to sign with a quill and ink (_so Harry Potter!_). I anxiously grinned up at the dwarves, and met Fili and Kili's eyes. They looked absolutely ecstatic, which made my stomach summersault ridiculously.

"Well, we are going to ask Bilbo for somewhere to sleep; it's been a really big day for us. Goodnight, all!" I called, as Josh and I headed back down the hallway to Bilbo. He had just come out of his living room, and he jumped slightly when he saw us.

"Are you feeling any better, Bilbo?" Josh asked with a cheeky grin, to which Bilbo didn't seem to appreciate.

"Yes, thank you." He replied quite curtly, before turning to face me. His face softened, as he asked "do you need somewhere to sleep? I can arrange a separate room for you to retire. The dwarves and Josh can sleep in the living rooms, as there should be quite enough room."

"That would be great, thank you Bilbo." He started ushering me down the corridor, and I called out goodnight to Josh. He looked mildly uncomfortable to be sleeping in the company of the dwarves, but Bofur appeared behind him and started chatting away. The frown on his face disappeared and his shoulders slumped slightly as he relaxed, and they turned to go back into the dining room.

Bilbo showed me to a room a fair way down the corridor. It made me wonder just how big his home actually was! "Here you are Miss Amelia. It is completely furnished, and the bed spread was only changed two days past, so it should be rather comfortable."

He continued to mumble about the room, which I didn't mind in the slightest, but my eyes flashed over to a mirror on top of the fire place. I went over cautiously, unsure if I wanted to look. As I reached it, I gasped slightly in shock.

My cheek had turned purple along a thin cut which was only very shallow and short, but a trickle of blood had run from it. It looked as though I had just had teeth pulled with how swollen my cheek appeared.

My hand went from my cheek to the matted hair on the other side of my head. Blood had congealed from a cut I must have received from contact with the wall, and it had clumped parts of my hair rather disgustingly.

Bilbo must have noticed, because he had stopped talking and came over to stand near me. "What happened to you, Miss Amelia? You have such horrible injuries; I couldn't imagine how you must have gotten them…"

I sighed, dropping my shoulders and facing Bilbo. It wasn't that I didn't trust him, but I didn't trust myself to talk about it without balling my eyes out in front of a complete stranger.

However, when I looked at Bilbo's eyes and saw them filled with such genuine concern and worry, rather than curiosity, so I decided to entrust in the hobbit. I quickly went through everything Josh and I had been through, including our mother's death, briefly recapping the events that transpired that afternoon and how we ended up in Middle Earth. I wanted to glean over as quickly as possible to stop myself from crying, which I am proud to say I was successful at doing.

Bilbo listened the entire time with a shocked look on his face, which quickly turned to anger when he heard that my father was the cause of my injuries.

"What a horrid creature he must be to cause harm to someone as delicate as you!" he exclaimed, quite disgusted with this piece of information. "Come, let's get you cleaned up!" He began to shoo me towards his 'bathroom', which was something very different to what I had envisioned. It was a smaller sized room than any of the ones I had been in already, with a large rounded bathtub that was made of a smooth, brown wood. The walls in the room were unlike any other in the house; they hadn't been expertly carved and painted out of the hill we were beneath. In here, they were dark and it seemed they had not been altered since they had originally dug out to create the space. It was cool to the touch, and Bilbo begun to explain the reason for this. "The stone and earth from the hill are naturally cool, which is quite agreeable when bathing in hot water, otherwise it becomes much too steamy."

After showing me how to pump water into the bathtub, he left me to my own devices. I automatically moved to light candles that were place around the room using several matches Bilbo left me. I was lost in thought as I undressed myself and laid down into the steamy water. It was scalding hot, but it felt nice against my dirty and grubby skin. I began to clean myself with some soap, making sure I gently scrubbed the blood from my face and hair. I felt like I had stepped into a dream in which I couldn't wake myself up from. Everything just seemed so surreal, like I had made it up. But by the heat against my skin and the throbbing in my head, I knew deep down that it wasn't a dream.

Attempting to shut off from every idle thought crossing my mind, I closed my eyes and sunk further into the steamy water. It was when I began to relax, that I heard a song being sung by deep voices down the other end of Bilbo's home. While it was completely beautiful, I could hear the sadness, longing and regret through each note and tone. I listened to the song until the water turned cold.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, I awoke to sunlight shining through the bedroom window, the sound of plates clattering and the smell of glorious, glorious bacon and sausages.

Compelled by the smell of easily the best food on the planet (whatever planet I was currently on), I jumped out of bed and quickly threw in my tunic, vest and slacks. I looked in the mirror before leaving, and noticed that the swelling of my cheek had reduced significantly. I looked much better with washed and brushed hair, and after the night's sleep, the bags under my eyes had also begun to disappear.

I had been worried that my night would be consumed by nightmares, but after an exhausting day and the singing of the dwarves to lull me into a blissful state of mind, I collapsed as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I followed my nose out of the room after making the bed. Walking into the dining room, I was greeted by a group of (mostly) cheerful dwarves, Joshua and Gandalf. They all looked extremely satisfied with their breakfast, and I sat down next to the old wizard and made a grab for a few pieces of bacon. I immediately put a piece in my mouth before I had even put any onto my plate, moaning at the taste. It was definitely the best bacon I had ever had.

"This is the most amazing thing ever! God, I love food!" I said happily, with a mouthful of bacon.

"Aye, lass!" the big dwarf named Bombur cheered, also through mouthfuls of bacon. "If your love of food is to be judged, I do believe we will get on quite well!"

I grinned from ear to ear; to which many of the dwarves chuckled as I was still busy chewing on my bacon.

At that moment Thorin chose to break up the merry little breakfast party with an order to begin gathering belongings and preparing the ponies for the journey ahead.

It was then that I realised I didn't actually have any belongings anymore.

I had a moment of longing for the everyday, random crap I used like my phone, toothbrush, hair-straightener and lip-balm. I frowned at the thought of going on an epic journey and not even being slightly prepared, when Gandalf held out a pair of shoes from beside me. They looked to be made of brown leather, with matching brown laces.

"Here you are, Miss Amelia. You will be needing these, as I'm sure your feet are not so accustomed to travelling far distances bare." I nodded my head in agreement to his statement, and thanked him. "Where is Bilbo?" I asked suddenly, as Gandalf began to stand from his seat.

He turned to look down at me, a small smirk playing at the corner at his lips. "Bilbo believes that the Baggins half of him has decided not to join us on our journey, but what he does not know is that the Tookish part of him will prevail. Do not worry, young Amelia. I do believe he will be joining us by lunch time." And with a tap on his nose and a twinkle of his eyes, he left to collect his belongings.

After about twenty minutes, the company was ready to leave. We had cleaned up the mess in Bilbo's home (after my suggestion- even though Gandalf said that Bilbo would come, I didn't really want to leave his house as filthy as it was), and put supplies onto the ponies that Gandalf had apparently acquired during the night.

I looked out across the landscape around us to what was called The Shire, to really observe it now that it was bright outside. It was even more amazing than I had realised last night. The grass was such an intense green and the blue was the brightest blue I'd ever seen. It felt like back home I must have been looking at everything half blind, because the colours around me now in this world were just so bright and vibrant. I took a wild stab and guessed that pollution must be having more of an impact to the environment in my world than anyone realises.

Every minute I found something new to look at. Whether it was the birds flying overhead, the various shapes the clouds made in the sky, or even the small ripples being made in the pond, or the yellow daisy-type flowers that were dotting the green grass that rolled and stretched as far as I could see.

I felt as though I was beginning to fall in love with the place, entranced by its beauty. I was interrupted from my pleasant thoughts by the feeling of someone being by my side. I looked to my right to find Fili standing next to me, also looking over the landscape.

"It is really beautiful, isn't it" he said, without looking at me. "I see why Bilbo does not want to join us on this journey. I only hope that at the end of this quest, I am able to understand Bilbo's concept of home, and call Erebor my own."

I was looking at his face, observing the longing evident in his eyes. I felt as though I was intruding on something though, like he had told me a detail about himself that not many knew and I didn't know how to respond. I did feel guilty, however. After all, he had just shared something that seemed quite personal to him, yet I had completely blocked him out last night.

I snapped out of my inner monologue when he turned towards me, looking over my face and head. "You look much better this morning, Miss Amelia." He smiled at me, not just with his lips but with his bright blue eyes. They were absolutely gorgeous, and reminded me of the sky that I had been looking at minutes earlier.

"Yeah, and I feel it as well. There's nothing like a hot bath, a good night's sleep and a whole plate of bacon for breakfast to perk you right up." I grinned at him, and he grinned right on back. His eyes lit up with curiosity, and it looked as though he was about to ask me a question, when Joshua came strutting up to us.

"Amelia! How good was that breakfast, hey! I swear I've never been hungrier in my life. I helped Bofur pack the ponies, and Gandalf said that you will need to share a pony with someone. I am going to ride one by myself until Bilbo catches up, and then I'll share with him. Bofur said he's happy to share his pony with you. I told him that you like animals and you should be fine, so yeah."

He grinned down me, evidently pleased with himself for informing me of every little detail that I needed (or didn't need) to know. I smiled back at him as I replied.

"Thanks, you'd give Hedwig a run for his money." I said as I reached up and rubbed my knuckles against the hair on his head, resulting in me getting tickled, which I despised.

"Ah, piss off!" I said laughing, as he stopped his assault and hurried back over to Bofur who had called his name.

Still half laughing, I turned to Fili who looked at me with a combination of confusion and amusement.

"Are you alright, Fili?" I joked, elbowing him lightly in the ribs. He faked real pain, bending over and clutching his side, before he replied.

"Who is _Hedwig_?" he said. He looked quite curious now, and I was trying to figure out a good way to explain a character in the Harry Potter books and films.

"Uh, well Hedwig is like a messenger owl from a book we used to read as kids, so I was just comparing Josh to him." Fili looked satisfied with my answer, and smirked at me.

"That is not from any book that I have read. What was it called? Perhaps I may recognise the name."

That stumped me. How was I supposed to tell him anything about where I was from, without explaining that I was from a different world that believed the world he had grown up in wasn't real? Yeah, _complicated_. Luckily, I was saved by Thorin (of all people) who stated that we were to leave immediately.

I began to walk over to the ponies, and spotted Bofur already sitting atop his. I felt comfortable enough getting on by myself, so I hopped up without much difficulty and sat behind Bofur. I glanced over at Fili, who was standing by his pony. He looked disappointed, and I wondered why when he looked up at me. All traces of that emotion disappeared, replaced only by a cheeky grin that lit up underneath his blonde braided moustache and beard.

"Have you ridden a pony before, lass?" Bofur said, half turning around to face me. My attention was turned from the blonde dwarf to the grinning dwarf in front of me. Up close, I could see that he was older than I realised (well I guess all of them were, I thought Fili and Kili were my bloody age) as he had the beginnings of fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth. His personality was what made me think he was younger I suppose, as he was always smiling and talking, and had a good, lively energy about him.

"No I haven't; but I really love animals, so I'm not as scared as some people might be around them." Bofur smiled big and wide while nodding and turned back to the front of the pony. We started off after the other dwarves who had saddled up and begun on their way. As we trotted along, I was able to relax and take in my surroundings.

It was a while before Bofur talked again, and by that time the rolling hills of the shire had disappeared and we had entered a forest thinly strewn with large trees.

"So, where were you and Master Joshua from?" _Weeeeell, I'm from another world/planet/dimension, where this world isn't actually real and our father is a raging alcoholic. _Yeah, I don't think that would go down too well. I was sort of wishing that Gandalf had given us a better cover story, because I was going to have to think of something for the long run.

"A place so far away from here, you wouldn't recognise it if I told you"

"Aye lass, you and your brother sure are mysterious. I have asked him the question half a dozen times and he still doesn't reveal the location of your homeland. Don't be ashamed of where you are from; even if you lived with elves, we would not treat you any different. Well, some of us wouldn't at least." He chuckled to himself as he looked over at Thorin. I guessed he was one of the dwarves that would despise us even more than he already did if we had lived with elves.

We continued to plod on, when I heard a yell from behind us. It wasn't one of the dwarves as the voice was slightly too high-pitched, and when I turned around I was met with the scene of Bilbo running up to us with his contract trailing in the wind.

The sight was definitely a welcome one (that I had doubts I would actually see), as I had begun to miss the hobbit. Even though I had known him for a day, I already valued him as a friend as well as someone I could entrust in.

"Wait, wait!" He yelled, as we stopped our ponies and he caught up to us. He walked over to Balin, looking slightly out of breath as if he had run all the way here, and said "I signed it." Balin took the contract to inspect it with a small eye piece.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." I let out a cheer along with most of the other dwarves and Joshua. I smiled at Bilbo as he looked up at me, and he looked nervous but smiled back anyway.

"Give him a pony" Thorin called out from in front of us, continuing on down the path that wove through the forest.

"No, no, no, no, that won't be necessary," Bilbo started to reply, "thank you, but I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I-I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once- ah!" Kili and Fili had interrupted his babbling by lifting him off his feet and behind Josh onto his pony.

Josh was chuckling at Bilbo, and in response to that the hobbit scowled glares into my brothers back. The dwarves begun to talk amongst themselves about paying bets that they must have placed earlier as to whether Bilbo would actually show up and I began to zone out again.

How did we actually end up here? Surely there had to be a particular reason that Josh and I made our way through whatever was connecting our worlds. Loads of people would hike through where we had been, and I don't recall tonnes of people going missing, just disappearing from thin air.

I tried to remember any little scrap I could from the books and movies. The only things that I recognised was Middle Earth and that Gandalf was a major part of the story, but other than those few details that I managed to scrape together when we first arrived, I was drawing a blank. I felt like there was a door in my mind that I couldn't open no matter how hard I tried.

After thinking over it for a long while, I figured that it was probably a good thing. If I knew what was going to happen before it had actually happened, I could change anything to suit me. But that still didn't stop the gnawing feeling that I constantly had in my stomach. I felt like it wasn't chance or coincidence that we landed up here, and even though I didn't know what to expect, I knew that I had to be prepared for whatever was ahead.

* * *

We had been travelling for the entire morning before we stopped for a quick lunch break. Bilbo wasn't very impressed by the lack of meals, and we were all amused at his discomfort.

"How many meals were you expecting, lad?" Balin called out, a small smirk on his old face.

"Well, I had breakfast, but we missed second breakfast and elevensies!" He huffed, before continuing, "Now we've had lunch, and afternoon tea, supper and dinner come afterwards, though I suppose we won't be having anything but dinner!" He crossed his arms in front of himself and plopped down on the ground beside Balin and Ori.

"Hey, Bilbo!" I called out. Bilbo looked up at me with a frown still on his face. "I saw an apple tree about a hundred metres back there, want me to go grab you some?" I grinned at him. I saw the apple tree when we were coming into the clearing that we were currently eating in. There was a small stream next to us where we refilled our water sacs (which were made out of some form of animal skin). When I had seen the tree full of delicious looking fruit, I was tempted to stop everyone to go and grab some. It was just my luck that we had stopped close-by, but I needed someone to help me.

"Oh yes Miss Amelia that would be wonderful!" he exclaimed, with a bright smile. I hopped over to him and grabbed his hand to help him to his feet. We began walking down the track, and had only gotten about twenty metres when Josh yelled out to us.

"Wait up guys, we're coming with you!" I looked behind me to find Josh, Fili, Kili, Ori, Bofur and even Bombur jogging to catch up with us. I grinned, as I was sure this would be interesting.

"What's this about you two going to collect food without us?" Bombur cried out. I should have realised that he would have been the first to volunteer to help with anything that had to do with food.

"Well now that we have more hands, we can grab even more fruit!" I said cheerily. I absolutely adored fruit; it doesn't matter what type it was, it basically just made me super happy.

We reached the apple tree, and realised that all the fruit were on branches that were much higher up, and none of us (even Josh) would have been able to reach them. I knew what the next easiest thing would be to do, so I started to take off the leather shoes that I was still trying to get accustomed to.

"What are you doing, Miss Amelia?" Ori called from beside the tree, where the guys were trying to think of a way to reach the branches.

"Well, the best way to get our fruit is to climb the tree, and this may be a long shot, but I think I am the more experienced tree climber here." Josh nodded his head in agreement, as he knew that I was used to climbing. I had always been super adventurous when I was younger, when my mum was alive, and I was forever finding new trees to try and climb. I just loved the feeling of being up the top and being able to look over the world below me.

After mum died though, I mainly climbed trees to try and find a way to get closer to her, always trying to find a way to get to the sky. As I got even older, it was an escape from my life and I would find a suitable tree to climb and be with my own thoughts.

"Watch out guys!" I called, as I ran up to the base of the tree. The guys moved out of the way as I pressed my foot onto the side of the trunk, and using the momentum, pushed upwards and grabbed onto the nearest branch. I hoisted myself up and swung my legs over the top, looking down at the men below me. Josh grinned proudly, and the rest of them looked amazed.

"Well done Amelia!" Bilbo shouted, gazing up at me with a look surprise. I beamed cheekily down at them, and then stood up on the branch, finding another branch to spring onto. I quickly reached branches with wonderfully large apples hanging off of them. I grabbed one, taking a huge bite out of it.

I smiled in appreciation; it was so delicious! It tasted different than apples I had before, but in a good way. It was slightly juicy and also had a citrusy tang to it, which I thought made a great combination.

"Josh! These are amazing, have a bite!" They weren't too far down, so I dropped the fruit towards his open hands and he caught it. With almost an identical reaction to my own, he made a few incoherent noises before shouting back his appreciation. He shared the fruit around, and I began to collect more. I picked the fruit and dropped them down to the waiting dwarves, hobbit and human who began to place them in a rucksack.

Bombur was already thinking of all the things he could make for tonight's dinner with apples, and I thought they all sounded wonderful. Fili was talking to Ori, not paying attention to the apples being dropped around him, so I decided to be a take advantage of the situation.

I picked the biggest apple I saw, and moved slightly down the branch, positioning myself directly above his head; aaaaaand dropped the apple, with it landing squarely on his head with an audible '_donk!_' There was a second of silence before a chorus of laughter; Bofur and Kili had physically dropped to the ground, roaring in laughter. I tried to contain my giggles, but as soon as Fili looked up with a deep scowl on his face, I howled.

As soon as I had lost it, Fili began to relax and also joined in with a smile of embarrassment and a small chuckle. It was a while before we had calmed down enough to continue our production line of apple collection.

After we had more than we could possibly eat, I started climbing back down the tree. It was a shame I couldn't stay up there for a bit longer. The breeze was absolutely wonderful and it would be awesome to climb to the top and see the view. I reached the bottom branch and jumped down with ease, coming back to the group who were laughing and chattering amongst themselves.

Kili sidestepped to stand next to me, giving me a mischievous grin. "I would watch out, you know. Fili is very, very competitive. If you play a prank on him, he will play one on you twice as terrible. I learnt the hard way while we were growing up." With a quick wink he walked back to his brother, who had an identical smirk on his face.

_Shit_, I thought. I instantly had a bad feeling about this, though I didn't let it show that it worried me. I called over to Fili, as I smiled sweetly. "How's your head?" I watched his smirk falter slightly before he regained his composure and begun grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh fine, dwarves have thick skulls you see. How're your feet?" My own smile faltered as I realised I had taken off my shoes and left them down here. I looked over to the grass where I had left them, seeing that they disappeared. The other dwarves chuckled, and I figured they had been in on it.

_Well, two can play that game._ "Fili, may I please have my shoes back, or I will be forced to kick your ass." I replied innocently. His eyebrows shot up in mild surprise, and he smiled back with a wicked grin.

"I'd like to see you try," he retorted. I began walking up to him, and Kili elbowed him and said something in his ear, before they laughed. What they didn't know was that I had been training in martial arts for a year, and (even though I wasn't that good), it was still a slight advantage. The dwarves looked onwards eagerly, though Bilbo looked worried as hell for me. Josh must have picked up on it, because he whispered something to the hobbit and his worried expression instantly changed to him trying to suppress a laugh.

Fili was looking at me extremely smugly, and when I reached him I quickly struck my leg behind his own legs, and with a kick backwards and an arm pushing across his chest, he was down on the ground. Everyone around me erupted in laughter, and the blonde dwarf lying on the ground just looked dumbstruck. I bent down next to him, smiling innocently all the while.

"Can I please have my shoes back now?" It was Kili, who was still laughing in glee at seeing his brother getting thrown onto the ground, who replied for him.

"Here you go, lass! You deserve them after that show, by Durin's beard!" He handed me my shoes and I quickly put them on while Fili stood back up. He was still speechless, and I just laughed and started back towards the other half of the group.

On the way, Josh came over and clapped me on the shoulder. "Your training _is_ going well! That was epic!" He chuckled to himself, and I smiled at the thought that I just knocked a dwarf on his ass! Ha!

When we reached the others, I turned around to face a blushing and embarrassed Fili.

"No hard feelings, yeah?" I said, with my hand outstretched in surrender. He looked at my hand, then looked at me suspiciously, but eventually took my hand after some hesitation.

"Oh, no hard feelings at all Miss Amelia." He took a step closer to me, still holding my hand, as he continued. "Though we are not even in the slightest, and I mean to settle the score." And with a cheeky smirk he went to strap his rucksack of apples to his pony, as we got ready to head off again.

We travelled for the rest of the day, and I talked to Bofur all the while. He told me about his home in the Blue Mountains, which was extremely comfortable, but that he had wanted to return to his childhood home. He spoke about what he could remember of Erebor; that the halls were wide and vast, and the mines that stretched downwards forever, and of the beautifully extravagant toys he was given as a kid to play with.

In return I told him about my home, or what little I could say without completely confusing him or making him suspicious about where I had come from. I realised that Fili and Ori, who were closest to Bofur and I, were also listening to our conversation.

I talked about the parks that I used to play in when I was younger, ones that Josh, mum, dad and I would go to. I told them how we would have picnics every Sunday, and dad would make sandwiches for us all to eat once we got to the park. Bofur asked if I missed my parents, and I sighed.

"Our mum passed away in an accident when I was eight and Josh was five. We miss her loads, but we don't miss our dad." Bofur turned around to give me a questioning look, but I didn't want to reveal anything else. I just turned my head upwards and watched the white, fluffy clouds that were drifting by, until the sky turned orange and purple and we stopped to sleep for the night.

* * *

**Thankyou to everyone that has followed/favourited! You're actually amazing :) This idea for this chapter made me super duper excited, as I wanted to start building the foundation of the friendships between Amelia/Josh and the rest of the company. I really want to make sure these relationships are built up through their interactions so that you guys can see it growing as I go along; that why I've done a few chapters but haven't gotten very far plot wise. Hope you're enjoying it so far! I hope everyone has a fantastic day/night depending on where you are :)**


	5. Chapter 5

We had been travelling for almost two weeks, and while it hadn't been very strenuous, I was pretty tired. We had trotted along on our ponies, up mountains and over mountains, across streams, through forests and over plateaus. Each day we had gotten up as soon as light started glinting over the horizon, and we would start setting up camp for the night as soon as there was only a little bit of light left. We would only stop quickly for lunch; for the first few days we had plenty of apples, and after that we ate mainly dried fruit, dried meat and some sort of biscuity-bread type food.

Josh and I had also been asked to help on a few night watches, though we still had to have one of the dwarves awake with us just in case. Thorin had trusted us just a smidgen to help, and even though I had a feeling he was testing us, I wasn't about to complain.

Thorin had eased up on slightly on Josh, Bilbo and I, but he still didn't accept us. I guess it had only been a few weeks, though I thought he may have warmed up to at least Josh. My brother was always going around asking for jobs to do; he enjoyed keeping busy and making sure that he was, I suppose, earning his keep.

There was one night that he basically did everything. He tied up the ponies, collected fire wood and served up dinner when it was ready. It was making me feel really lazy to be quite honest, even though I did help out where I could.

The other dwarves seemed more relaxed around us too, even Dwalin to an extent, though I felt that he didn't really accept us either. I got to know more about the dwarves each and every day. I learnt that Ori was a writer and an artist, and not a warrior at all. He enjoyed sketching and journaling our movements each day, and I enjoyed looking at his drawings. I found out that Oin was the company's medicine man; when he discovered Bilbo and I were interested in what he knew, he would show us various different plants that we stumbled across and what they could be used for.

I learnt that the red headed and bearded dwarf named Gloin had a wife and son waiting for him back at the Blue Mountains, and that he missed them dearly. I had asked him why he joined Thorin's quest when he had a family waiting for him; he simply replied that the company was his family too, and he would do anything to help them.

It made me really admire not only Gloin, but the rest of the dwarves. They had put their lives on hold to help their brothers in Thorin's quest to take back Erebor, even when the odds were stacked majorly against them. Despite them being loud, obnoxious and rude at times, they were also fiercely loyal when it came to family. It made me wonder if that was why Josh and I had gotten along so well with some of the company; because, I suppose, we weren't all that different.

There was one day that I was collecting fire wood with Balin. He had also warmed to our presence, in particular Bilbo. They were getting along quite well, though Bilbo still seemed to be finding the whole experience extremely difficult. I learnt that hobbits loved the comforts of home and didn't tend to go on adventures ever.

"Do you think Bilbo is missing home so much that he will go back?" I had asked Balin.

"I feel as though he misses home dearly, but to whether he will go back? That remains to be seen. I hope that he does feel as though he is a part of the group, but I suppose it is hard when some are so stubborn and set in their ways." I knew he was talking about Thorin in particular then.

"Can I ask you a question?" I had said to him. He nodded, before I proceeded.

"When we were first at Bilbo's home, and you learnt that we were going to join you guys on your journey, you looked really disappointed. Why?"

He had sighed, looking at me with sad eyes. "I was disappointed because you and Joshua are so young, Miss Amelia. There is every likelihood that this quest will not succeed, and I feel disheartened that two as young as yourselves should risk not surviving. I feel the same about the younger dwarves joining us. I know they must, but I feel that Thorin has made a good home for us already in the Blue Mountains. It saddens me to risk the lives of my brothers, my family, when it could all end in tragedy. But I will follow nonetheless, because Thorin is my King."

I had thought over what Balin said for days. I finally concluded that it was one of the bravest things I had ever heard. He had made sacrifices in his life to follow and protect his king, and he was still risking his own life by just helping Thorin reclaim their homeland. I was learning more and more of the extreme loyalty of these dwarves; I figured that if you wanted to become friends with anyone, it would be them.

I still worried everyday about where we were headed and what was in store for me and Josh. More than once I had planned to try and take him back to The Shire so that we could find the way to get home. I knew though that it would be in vain; even if I managed to get Josh back there (which was unlikely), it would be almost impossible to find the way to get home. Hell, we didn't even know exactly how we got here in the first place.

I thought about our dad sometimes, and wondered what he would be doing. I don't know if he would have tried to look for us, but we would have been missing for some time. I supposed the police would have gotten involved if he filed a missing persons report, but no amount of searching was going to get us found. Each time I thought about him, I wondered if he cared that we were gone. And each time I asked myself this question, I regretted it instantly because I started feeling sick to the stomach. To push the thoughts out of my mind, I would try to distract myself by collecting firewood or asking one of the dwarves to tell me about the Blue Mountains or Erebor.

The truth was I still felt hurt from what our father did to us. Not physically hurt, as my wounds healed within the first week, but I felt kind of rejected. Like, maybe we weren't good enough and maybe that's why he hurt us and didn't care for us. As soon as the thought went through my head, I knew it wasn't true. _That's bullshit and you know it_, I reprimanded myself. Josh is one of the best people in the entire world, and there is no way that he wouldn't be good enough. Our father wasn't good enough for _us_, _that's_ what it was.

Even though Josh was the only actual family I had left, it made me feel better to know that the people (and by people I mean dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard) were starting to feel like family. Well, most of them. Thorin was still cold and calculating, and Dwalin still seemed guarded and disapproving of us. I was much more comfortable with the comapny though, compared to the first night I had spent in Middle Earth, where I was still reeling from everything that had happened that day.

We had continued on our journey in relatively good cheer and good spirits, as Thorin said we were making good ground. We had climbed up a sort of mountain on a particular day and decided to camp on a spacious rocky ledge that jutted out from the peak. It was a good spot because we could see down below us for a long while, and had a great view of the countryside. It was sunset when we started to set up camp. Bombur and Nori started preparing a stew straight away, which was mostly made up of vegetables and water (it wasn't all that bad though- Bombur sure could make great things of what little he had).

Josh, Kili, Bofur and Fili went to collect wood for the fire, so there really wasn't much left to do after Bilbo and I had fed the ponies. I went and sat over on the ledge of the cliff face, with my legs hanging off of the edge. The sky had turned from a deep crimson colour to shades of purple and pink to deep blue. The stars had started to come out in full force, and I just gazed upwards at the astonishing beauty of them. Looking at the stars always did a good job of making me feel insignificant, but in a good way; it always made me look at the bigger picture in life.

"Do you like the stars, Miss Amelia?" a small voice next to me asked. I jumped slightly, but in realising it was only Ori, I relaxed immediately. He must have sat down beside me in silence so that he didn't disturb me from my star-gazing, I realised.

"Ori, you don't need to call me 'Miss', anymore. We're friends now, right?" He nodded at me in earnest, before I continued. "I think they're amazing, the stars. They put everything into perspective by making you feel so small." I smiled at the dwarf, who smiled timidly back.

"I like to think that people who have passed on from our world are also shining up there, looking down at us." He smiled sadly down at his hands. I wondered who he had lost; I only knew that he had his brothers Dori and Nori, who were with us.

"Is there someone close to you that's up there?" I asked, while looking back up to the countless lights dotting the black sky. There were a few minutes of silence before he replied.

"Yes. Our mother and father are over there." He pointed to an area close to the horizon, at two stars that were close together that seemed to be burning at a different colour to the rest. They were tinged with green, and I thought that was really odd but interesting at the same time.

"They are beautiful, Ori." He glanced over at me with a look that showed true pride and happiness. We continued to look up at the sky, revelling in the beauty of our surroundings. I so felt bad for the young dwarf. Losing parents at an early age was horrible (especially both of them) but I was glad that he had his brothers to help and protect him.

After a short while, Ori spoke again.

"Mi- I mean, Amelia, would you like to look at some of my newest sketches?" I grinned at him; I loved seeing his beautiful drawings of things we had seen along the way. So far I had seen sketches of The Shire, many different trees and rolling landscapes, squirrels and fruits and flowers. My favourites, however, were the ones of the company. He managed to capture such detail in the drawings that you could see exactly what emotions were playing out on the muse's features. For example, he had drawn a sketch of Gandalf sitting beside the fire smoking on his pipe. You could see the crease lines between his eyes and on his forehead, and you could tell he was deep in thought.

He had drawn a few others of his brothers, as well as Thorin (looking angry- no surprise there) and Bilbo, Bofur and Josh, which I really liked. Josh had been talking with Bofur at the time Ori drew him, and he had captured him mid-laugh, extremely amused by the dwarf's stories. My brother looked so happy, like truly happy, and that wasn't something I had seen very often when we were under our fathers roof. I liked the picture so much that I asked Ori if I could keep it, and he agreed.

Ori had pulled out his sketch book from a rucksack next to him, and opened to the pages I hadn't seen before. The first was of Bofur, Bifur and Bombur; they were sitting with one another around the campfire. Bombur was eating a piece of food and looking at his brothers happily, while Bofur was smoking on a pipe and explaining something. Bifur looked on with a small smile on his face (who has part of an axe protruding from his forehead- yes; it did and does freak me out in a massive way).

It was a beautiful drawing, and I felt so entranced by the emotions that had been scribbled down with such detail. I couldn't even speak for a few moments, and I felt more than saw Ori nervously fidget next to me.

"Ori, this is… This is magnificent.. If I had any money, I would give you all of it to own this. It is so wonderful." Ori's face lit up in a smile that ranged from ear to ear at the compliment.

"Thank you Amelia! It really isn't that great, though."

"Bullshit! It is really, truly, wonderful." I moved onto the next page, and it was a picture of Fili. I studied the picture carefully, looking at each mark of the pencil. His hair and beard had been drawn so perfectly; even braids in his moustache had been sketched to the tiniest detail. But his face was incredible. There was a small smile at the corner of his lips, and his eyes had a twinkle in them that I recognised as curiosity. However, there was a look of something else that I didn't recognise as well; it was sort of intense, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"What was he looking at?" I wondered aloud to Ori, who sat there with a smile on his lips at my reaction to his drawings.

"Um, well, he was looking at you actually." Ori actually smirked at me with a cheeky glint in his eyes, and I balked.

"He- what?" I looked back at the picture, trying to imagine him looking at me like that. Yeah, nah, I don't think so. "He must have been looking at, I dunno, a tree or something," I muttered to myself.

"No, he wasn't Amelia. He was looking at you. He looks at you like that, I see it often." I didn't know what to say to be honest, I was pretty speechless. It was good that right at that moment, Bombur called out to tell us our meal was ready.

I handed Ori's sketchbook back to him after slowly closing it. "Thanks Ori," I smiled at him, before we stood up and made our way over to the campfire. We took our food in wooden bowls from Bombur, and I noticed that our portions were getting smaller. That disappointed me, but I resolved to find some more fruit trees our vegetables along the way so that Bombur had more to work with.

I sat next to Ori, half-listening to the conversations of the dwarves around me. I was mostly involved in my own thoughts- _again_- thinking about what Ori had said. I didn't really understand why Fili would have been looking at me like that, but what I did know is that it made my stomach summersault and I felt super nervous about the whole thing.

I looked over at said dwarf, who was sitting on a large fallen branch just to my right. He was gazing into the fire, his features lit up with an amber glow from the flames. Looking closely at him in the light, I could see that he looked exhausted, even more so than any of the others, including Thorin. He had dark circles under his eyes, and whatever he was thinking about was making him frown.

Still wondering about Fili, I finished my food and we began to clean up. I figured that it was my turn to do something, so I took everyone's bowls to wash up. I went over to Fili, who was still gazing into the fire, and held out my hand for his dish.

"Fili?" I said questioningly, and he snapped out of the trance he seemed to be in and looked up at me.

"I'm washing up, so do you want to pass me your bowl?"

"Oh, yes, sorry Miss Amelia," he said, slightly embarrassed. He handed me the dish while watching me. In doing so, I noticed that he looked slightly alarmed and extremely worried, and it had warning bells ringing in the back of my head.

"Hey, are you alright Fili?" I said, not bothering to hide the concern that I felt. Almost instantly, his expression became guarded and wary; I knew even before he said anything that he wasn't prepared to tell me.

"Yes," he deadpanned, before standing up quickly and walking away without another word. _Well, alrighty then_. That was a bit of a smack in the face, and it made me feel sick to the stomach. He was blocking me out when I all I wanted to do was ask if he was alright, and that didn't seem fair. Then I realised, that was exactly what I had done to him though. _Ah fuck._ I still hadn't talked to him about what had happened to me and Josh the day we met the company, and I guess he still remembered that.

I exhaled and sunk my shoulders. I was going to have to tell him what had happened, and where we had come from, otherwise he wouldn't be able to trust me. I had a bad feeling as well about what was worrying him, and I felt like I needed to know what it was.

I went and cleaned the bowls in small amounts of water and put them back into the rucksacks on the ponies. Bilbo had come over and (without realising I was there) began feeding his and Josh's horse, who he had named Myrtle.

"Hello, girl. That's a good girl. It's our little secret, Myrtle; you must tell no one. Shh, sh."

All of a sudden there was a loud sort of shriek that sounded out below us. Both Bilbo and I jumped, and Bilbo started to jump back over to camp.

"What was that?" He exclaimed, still jogging closer to the fire, where Fili and Kili had seated themselves.

"Orcs," Kili replied rather ominously. I moved back into the light of the campfire when I heard that. I was fully alert now, and I began looking around the area to try and make sure that there wasn't anything lurking behind trees or in the shadows. Not like that would do anything though, because my eyesight was crap in comparison to the dwarves, as I had learnt.

"Orcs?" Bilbo squeaked, and I noted that Thorin had woken up with a start and was glancing around the area anxiously.

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens out there; the lowlands are crawling with them. They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no screams, just lots of blood." Kili had lowered his voice and leaned in over the fire, for what looked like dramatic emphasis. As soon as he began to smirk, I knew that he was trying to scare the shit out of Bilbo, and it had worked.

Fili, on the other hand was frowning at Kili. That surprised me, because it would usually be both of the brothers working together to prank and trick one of us. It was weird that they were out of synch, and I figured whatever was on his mind was affecting him more than anyone realised.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin said, standing up from his spot and walking across our camp. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" He was fuming, and I felt bad for Kili.

"I didn't mean anything by it," the youngest Durin said, looking quite deflated.

"No you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin seethed, and he walked over to the ledge and stood looking across the mountainside.

That was when Balin begun to speak, and explained Thorin's reaction.

"Don't mind him laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first.

"Moria had been taken by legions of orcs, led by the most vile of their race: Azog, the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King. Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we do not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us.

"But that is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armour rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield. However, Azog the defiler learnt that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken.

"Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated, but there was no feast or song that night; for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could call king."

By the end of Balin's story, the whole company were awake, standing and staring in awe at Thorin. The recounted events of Thorin's life really got under my skin as well. It was so horrible, and I couldn't imagine having to go through all of that pain in one lifetime. I now understood why he acted the way he did. He had such a heavy burden to carry, and it was no wonder that he was so bitter and didn't trust easily.

"What about the pale orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo asked. Thorin walked back towards the campfire, while he replied.

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." He replied curtly, while he moved back to his spot where he his sleeping gear lay, and promptly got settled to go to sleep.

Everyone else did the same, except for Ori and I who were on watch tonight. We would swap with Kili and Fili after a few hours (well, when the moon reached the middle of the sky, seeing as we have no way to check time; something that was still way too weird to adjust to).

Ori and I just sat by the fire for a while, looking out into the night and watching over the company. After a while I noticed that Ori had started to nod off; he was sitting upright but his head was lulling forward.

"Ori," I whispered, gently shaking his shoulder. He jumped awake, wide-eyed and looking about us. "Hey, it's okay, nothing's wrong," I chuckled, and he relaxed significantly, before I continued. "You can go to sleep if you want; I'm still wide awake and I'll continue to keep watch."

He smiled at me gratefully, before whispering goodnight and setting out his blankets close to his sleeping brothers.

I spent the rest of my watch looking at the night sky, and walking around camp to make sure the ponies were relaxed and everything was alright. I walked over to where Josh was sleeping, and saw him sprawled across the ground with his mouth wide open while he snored. I smiled at his unconscious body and went back to the fire to warm my hands.

After a while, I looked up at the sky and realised that my watch was done, so I walked over to where the Durin brothers were sleeping. They were just as sprawled out as Josh was, and I was about to kick Kili awake when I really looked at Fili properly.

He was extremely pale and had a thin sheen of sweat covering what parts of his face you could see; his hair was damp and strands of blonde were clinging to his forehead. His eyebrows were drawn into a frown and his lips were moving as he mumbled a string of incoherent words.

I moved from his brother over to him. Kneeling down, I brought my hand to his forehead to move the pieces of hair that clung there and checked his temperature. He was burning up, and I was freaking out because I had no idea what to do.

"Fili!" I whispered, shaking his shoulder slightly, but when he didn't wake up I shook him harder by both shoulders. "Fili, wake up! It's just a nightmare," I continued to whisper to him. I brought my face close to his to murmur into his ear, trying to wake him without waking everyone in the process.

As soon as I did that though, Fili's eyes blinked open and what I saw scared the shit out of me. I saw rage and horror in his eyes, it was as clear as day. I didn't even know what had scared him, but by his expression, _I_ was terrified.

In a split second, he had reached to his belt and pulled out a knife. I didn't have any time to react as he grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me closer to the knife he now held against my throat with his other hand.

I couldn't even get anything coherent out for a few seconds, but when I did, I sounded desperate even to myself.

"Fili, stop, it's me, Amelia! Please, it was just a nightmare, Fili, wake up, please Fili!" I choked out in a hushed whisper. His grip was tightening, and it was getting harder to breathe. I begged him with my eyes to let go of me, and I was about to scream for help when he let go of my neck and dropped his knife to the ground between us.

"A-Amelia?" he questioned, with confusion in his eyes and within the tones of his voice. I dropped backwards onto my ass, clasping my throat and sucking in deep breaths. There was pain across my neck, but my hands didn't feel wet so I guessed the knife hadn't quite cut my skin. Fili looked so panicked; I didn't know what had just happened but I was feeling the same way.

"Fili," I managed to make out after a few moments, "W-what the fuck j-just happened?" His look of panic turned to confusion and the frown on his face returned as he thought hard about what had happened. After a few moments, his head snapped back up to face me, the panicked look back again.

"Kili," he simply said, and he jumped up to check on his brother. I sat there looking at the ground, hand still clutching my neck. My eyes started to well up with tears because I was so fucking freaked about what had just happened. The tears finally rolled over and down my cheeks, and a small hiccup bubbled from my lungs. I felt like I was starting to have an anxiety attack, and I was concentrating on getting my breathing under control so much that I didn't realise Fili had come back over and now knelt in front of me.

He quickly but gently outstretched his hand to cup my cheek, before I had even looked up at him. When I did, he was looking at my neck with a furrowed brown and anger in his eyes. I knew straight away that he was only angry at himself, especially by the way he was swearing at himself under his breath in English and I assumed in his native tongue.

"Mahal, what have I done to you Amelia.." It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement, each word laced with regret. One part of me wanted to run far away, but another part told me that this was something I couldn't run away from. So I manned up and stopped crying, making sure that I wiped the tears away before I started.

"You need to tell me exactly what happened, in your dream I mean." I looked him in the eye, and he looked so pained and upset it hurt. My stomach lurched because I knew what I was about to hear wasn't going to be good. He nodded his head and looked down at his hands, and after a few minutes he began to explain.

"It was a dream.. A nightmare.. It felt so real, it felt like it was truly happening. The company were in a battle, a battle like no one had ever seen. There were thousands of orcs and goblins, and we were outnumbered. I tried to stay close to Kili.. I-I tried to protect him, but he was.." He paused, taking in a sharp breath before the rest of his dream came tumbling from his mouth.

"Kili was stabbed by an orc, and I tried to get to him but there were orcs everywhere. I felt like I was fighting for hours to get to him but I came no closer." He closed his eyes with a look of pain at the memory. "I must have thought you were an orc when you were trying to wake me, and I am so sorry Miss Amelia, Mahal only knows how truly sorry I am."

Even though I had almost been seriously injured by Fili, I really felt in my gut that I needed to help him. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it reminded me of the foreboding feeling I had earlier in the night when I had talked to him.

"It isn't your fault, okay? And I really mean that." He looked up to me with a questioning look, but I continued. "This isn't the first one you've had, is it?" He frowned and began to say something, though again I continued. "You've been looking exhausted, more than everyone else. And your behaviour has been different to usual, especially how you've been acting around your brother."

"You are extremely observant, Miss Amelia," he half whispered, looking at me with a slightly curious expression even though he was still dead serious.

"I was studying psychology- um, human behaviour- when I was back… When I was still at home." I seemed to pique his curiosity even more, as he began asking me questions.

"And where is your home?" I decided to humour him (to an extent) to try and keep his mind off of things.

"It's a completely different world from yours, trust me. Though I like your stars better, and the air is much cleaner." He tilted his head inquisitively, raising an eyebrow as he did so, I guessed to prompt me to continue. I decided I would tell him my story once I had finished asking him about his nightmare.

"Are you scared that you can't protect Kili?" He sighed, nodding his head slowly.

"Aye. I don't know if I can protect him. I have always done so, since we were just small lads, and I feel as though I may fail in keeping him away from danger on this quest. We both wanted to come on the journey to Erebor; Thorin told us stories about our homeland when we were boys, and we dreamt of the day we would be able to help claim our Uncle's throne."

"They are just nightmares though Fili, you know that right? Your subconscious is playing on your fears and insecurities. If it makes you feel better though, I will help you look after Kili. I know how you feel; we are both the oldest and we wanna look after our younger siblings because we feel like it's our responsibility. So I will help you look after him, I pinky swear."

Fili smiled at my offer, but I lost him at 'pinky swear'.

"What is a _pinky swear_?" he asked, emphasising the words like it was a new taste on his tongue. I chuckled quietly at his question, and he smiled curiously back, half laughing.

"It's like a promise, or an oath I guess. You promise something, and you can't break it because it's one of the highest promises you can make." He nodded seriously, before I continued.

"I pinky swear to help you look after your smartass brother." I held out an outstretched pinky finger, and he looked at it in curiosity before looking up to me. He hesitantly lifted his own, and I took it, shaking his whole arm for emphasis.

"What happens if a pinky swear is broken?" He asked.

"Umm, nothing really. Though I guess you would lose the trust of the person if they broke it." He nodded earnestly, and then spoke again.

"You should go to sleep, I will wake Kili. And Amelia.. Is there any way that you can forgive me?" looked at me sadly as he hesitantly reached for my neck and gently touched the spot where he had held the knife. My stomach did flips at the contact and I smiled timidly.

"I already forgave you, Fili." With (what I hoped was) a reassuring smile, I stood up and walked over to my sleeping bag next to Josh, and got settled in.

While I was lying there, I heard a quiet singing from who I guessed was Fili. It was a sad sort of song, very similar to what I had heard in Bilbo's home the first night we had come here. As I did back then, I began to drift into sleep. I was on the edge of unconsciousness when the singing stopped. The last thing I remembered, were fingers moving the hair from my face and soft lips against my forehead, as I tipped over into the blackness of sleep.

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**Hey guys! Hope you're all well :) A big thank you to my new favouriters/followers, and also Red089 for reviewing! You are amazing :D It took me a bit longer than I hoped to write this as I have been working heaps, but I have finally written/edited it! It is longer than I was expecting as well, because it was only going to be a Fili/Amelia chapter but it turned out to be a significant chapter for Ori too. Soo make sure you review/follow! It makes me a happy little vegemite XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello my lovely readers! A big thank you to Akiluna for reviewing, you are wonderful! This is a pretty big chapter, but a lot happens in this part of the story and I didn't want to split it into two chapters. Enjoy, review, and have an amazing day where ever you are! :)**

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We travelled for several more days until we came across what looked like a collapsed farmhouse where Thorin decided we would set up camp for the night. I overheard Gandalf speaking to Thorin, and he didn't seem too happy about the decision.

"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley." Gandalf looked kind of worried, and on closer inspection of the farmhouse, I could see that it had been burnt to the point that there wasn't a whole lot left.

"I have told you already, I will not go near that place." Thorin replied curtly.

"Why not? The elves could help us. We could get food, rest, advice," the wizard almost pleaded with the king under the mountain, but he wasn't having any of it.

"I do not need their advice" the dwarf deadpanned, though Gandalf was determined to try and get through to him.

"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."

"Help?" Thorin seethed, "A dragon attacks Erebor, what help came from the Elves? Orcs plunder Moria and desecrate our sacred halls, yet the Elves looked on and did nothing. You ask me to seek out the people who betrayed my grandfather and betrayed my father."

"You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold onto the past."

"I did not know they were yours to keep." Thorin glared at the old wizard, and Gandalf huffed and began to storm away from him and right past us.

"Everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo exclaimed.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense." Gandalf replied curtly, which was uncharacteristic of him.

"Who's that?" Bilbo asked, and Gandalf replied as he quickly marched back the way we had come.

"Myself, Mr Baggins! I've had quite enough of dwarves for one day!" We watched him disappear into a thick area of trees before anyone said anything.

"Is he coming back?" Bilbo asked Balin, though none of us knew if he would at all. I hadn't actually realised before now how much of an impact Gandalf's presence had on me. He had been the first person in Middle Earth that we had found; he had taken us in and helped us when we had no bloody idea what was going on. I was still looking out at where he had disappeared, wondering if he was actually leaving us, when Josh came over and stood next to me.

"It feels weird, doesn't it?" Josh said quietly. He looked towards the same direction as I did, and I just nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"He will come back though, I mean he was the first person to find us.. He wouldn't just leave us when we still have heaps of questions about why we are here, would he?" Gandalf did say that we could join them so that we could try and find out why we ended up in Middle Earth. Truth be told, I really didn't know where to start without him, and I felt pretty lost.

"Nah, it's Gandalf. I reckon he will be back." My brother grinned and I smiled at his positivity. It made me feel much better, and gave me confidence that he would come back.

We set up camp pretty quickly (we were getting hell efficient at it) and waited for dinner to be cooked. Fili and Kili were off looking after the ponies, Bifur and Dwalin were on watch, and Bofur and Bombur were cooking.

Over the past few days, I hadn't talked to Fili much while we were travelling, but at night we would talk together for a little while. I had finally told him about where Josh and I were from, and that Gandalf thought we had been brought here for a reason. At first he thought that I was playing a prank on him, and he didn't believe me that we had come from a different world. He soon realised I wasn't joking, and when I told him about our father, he became furious and started swearing in Khuzdul (Ori told me it was their language).

"_Khagam menu penu shirumund*_" he had spat out. "Blasted orc-spawn! Amelia, he cannot get through to Middle Earth to get you, can he?" I hadn't thought about that, but I really doubted so and I told Fili as much. He cooled down a little bit but he was still pretty pissed that that had happened to us, and I agreed.

Fili didn't want me to tell anyone about his nightmares, and I reluctantly agreed, but I had slept near to Fili each night after that. I wasn't so close that it looked suss, but I was close enough that I could hear him tossing and turning during one of his dreams and I would wake him up. He slept with his knives and daggers close to his rucksack instead of in his clothing just In case there was a repeat of the first time I tried to wake him. However, it was getting easier to wake him out of his nightmares, and even then they were getting less frequent. Fili had even gone back to his normal playful attitude around Kili, though I could still see in his eyes that he worried about his brother.

I felt the exact same about Josh. He was fitting in really well with most of the dwarves; Kili and Bofur in particular had taken a liking to my brother. They were like the three musketeers or something because they were always going off and exploring, though Fili and I weren't too far behind most of the time.

We were both looking out for each other's sibling, and I felt way better that Fili was keeping an eye on Josh. I really thought he pulled the short straw on that one though; he could do a hell of a lot more to protect Josh than I could do to help Kili, and it made me feel kind of useless, which I hated.

Though Fili didn't mention it at all, I remembered him kissing my forehead before I fell asleep that night. He made me really nervous, in the way that when I randomly saw him smile my stomach felt like it was trying to bounce away, and that really annoyed me. I tried denying to myself that I found him attractive, but I really did. Not just physically, but in his personality; he had a good sense of humour and knew how to have fun, but also knew the right times to be serious.

I didn't really want to think about it though. About 95 percent of me wanted to focus on getting to Erebor with as little difficulties as possible so that my brother would be alright. The other 5 percent, however, wanted to have fun with the company and get to know Fili more. Ultimately, I resolved to just shut the off that five percent of my brain for the moment.

Again, I had been lost in my own thoughts when the call for dinner came. Bofur was handing out bowls of stew and I scoffed mine down quickly. Despite finding some food along the way and the portion sizes being a little bigger, I was still forever hungry. I had been craving cheeseburgers and chocolate for the past three days and obviously nothing was going to sate that craving, besides actually getting back to my world.

When I was finished I started cleaning up everyone's bowls. As I was doing so, Bofur asked Bilbo to take two bowls of dinner to Kili and Fili. What I didn't notice until about ten minutes later was that Josh wasn't in camp anymore, and I assumed he had gone with Bilbo.

I continued with the cleaning, but I had begun to feel really anxious and I wasn't sure exactly why, though I assumed it was because Josh wasn't in my sight. I sighed and put the bowls away before heading towards the ponies. I walked through some thick trees and undergrowth, scanning and listening to what was in front of me to try and find exactly where they were.

After tripping a few times on random tree roots and bushes, I finally made it to the ponies but there was no sign of the others. I frowned, wondering where they had gone, but I could hear hushed voices from a little ahead of me and I continued walking. Getting closer to the voices, I started to voice my annoyances.

"What the heck are you guys doing? You're supposed to be looking after the ponies, and I don't appreciate going ass-up trying to-umph!" At that point a hand had appeared from beside me and covered my mouth to shut up my complaining. I narrowed my eyes at the offender, before promptly biting one of his chubby fingers.

"Ouch! In the name of Durin's beard, Amelia, what was that for?" Fili exclaimed in a hushed voice, snatching his hand back and frowning at me.

"Well why did you cover my mouth? And why are we being quiet?" I whispered angrily back to him.

He just shushed me and grabbed my arm, dragging me towards an orange light that I suddenly noticed close by. We ducked down behind a fallen tree and that was when I heard loud, obnoxious voices. I noticed Kili was ducked next to the log, looking towards the light with a panicked look on his face.

"Guys, what is going on, and where are Bilbo and Josh?" I questioned suspiciously. Both of them fidgeted before Kili blurted everything out.

"We noticed some of the ponies were gone so we asked Bilbo to investigate and we found three trolls had taken them so Bilbo went to release them but Josh didn't want him going alone so he also went" he rushed out in a single breath.

"What the _fuck_?" I burst out, looking in horror at the two brothers. "You sent _Bilbo _and _Josh_ in to get the ponies? From _trolls_? But what then? You think these trolls are going to just let them swagger off with our ponies into the sunset?" I glared at the two of them, hoping they caught onto my sarcasm.

"We were going to tell Thorin," Fili started, "But we thought we could take care of it ourselves. How hard could a few trolls be to deal with?" Kili finished.

There was a loud "_thwap_" noise and an obnoxious whine from one of the trolls I assumed, and I looked at the dwarves pointedly.

"Hurry up and get Thorin you idiots!" I punched Fili hard on the arm for emphasis, and I jumped from behind the log as he yelped in surprise. I rounded a few of the trees, getting closer to the fire while being as quiet as possible. Moving closer, I was absolutely shocked by what I could see.

There were three _massive_ humanoid shaped figures around the fire, bickering amongst themselves while they cooked over a large pot. They vaguely reminded me of the troll in Harry Potter, though these ones seemed a little bit more switched on. Only a little bit, though. They were large, stocky and grey, and had the ugliest faces of anything I had ever seen. And they smelt. _God,_ they smelt.

I looked around the area for any sign of Bilbo and Josh, but I saw the four ponies first. They had been put in a make-shaft stable sort of thing, made from large branches and logs. I moved around the edge of the clearing towards the ponies, and saw Bilbo and Josh in the process.

Bilbo was attempting to grab a large knife (more like a hooked sword, really) from the belt of the barely clothed troll, and I just about gagged at the proximity the hobbit was to the large beast. Josh was crouched by the horses, attempting to undo the ropes that were holding the temporary enclosure together, and I moved quietly over towards him to try and help.

He jumped just about a metre off the ground when I appeared at his side, but I made sure I covered his mouth so he didn't make a noise. I looked over at Bilbo, who was having a hard time trying to get the knife, before turning back and attempting to untie any ropes I could.

"Me guts are grumbling, I've got to snaffle something. Flesh I need, flesh!" one of the trolls complained, and I looked over just as the troll reached behind him without looking, picked up Bilbo by accident, and sneezed all over the little hobbit.

I froze, not knowing what to do. The troll began to freak out upon seeing Bilbo in his hands, covered in snot (ugh, yuck, I was having a hard time trying not to throw up my dinner).

"Argh! Blimey! Bert, Bert! Look what's come out of me 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!" The other two crowded around, looking at Bilbo in confusion and fascination.

"What is it?" One of them asked, starting to frown at him. The one holding Bilbo replied with "I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around," before throwing the hobbit onto the ground.

Bilbo looked dazed, but quickly jumped up and rounded on the trolls, trying to move away from the ugly creatures. Josh and I stood up, and quietly moved towards the hobbit while staying out of the sight of the trolls.

"What are you then? An oversized squirrel?" one of them grumbled at Bilbo.

"I'm a burglar-uhh, hobbit," Bilbo stuttered out in reply. _Smooth_, I thought. Nothing like telling them we are thieves, I couldn't imagine a quick and painless death after that admission. Surprisingly, they didn't catch on to Bilbo's slip up. They were definitely dumber than I first anticipated.

"A Burgla-hobbit?" the troll replied, as another asked "can we cook 'im?"

"We can try!" the other exclaimed, as he made a grab for Bilbo. Bilbo managed to duck and weave through their hands without being caught, while the three thick-headed trolls began discussing the best way to cook Bilbo, and whether there were any more of him around.

Josh and I were behind a tree just outside of the clearing, when they finally grabbed the hobbit, and began to ask him if there were any more of his kind. Before he answered, Josh picked up a rock, and half stepped from behind the tree to throw it at one of the troll's heads.

Fortunately, it made its mark and hit one of them directly between the eyes. It was the troll that seemed to complain and whine the most, and he dropped to the ground holding his face in pain.

"Argh, me head, me head!" he yelled out, and the other two trolls forgot about Bilbo for a moment while they scanned the area, eyes narrowed.

"Where did that come from, Tom? I told ya, din't I, there is more than one Burgla-hobbit!"

At that moment of distraction, I saw Kili jump through the other side of the clearing and using his sword, he lunged at the closest troll and slashed at its leg.

"Drop him!" Kili yelled, after the troll fell to the ground howling in pain. _What are you doing you idiot, you were supposed to get Thorin_! I inwardly stressed to myself. If they didn't get the rest of the company, this wasn't going to end well for Bilbo.

"You what?" the troll said as he looked at Kili in surprise. The dwarf smirked up at the disgusting creature as he replied.

"I said, drop him." I saw the troll smirk slightly back just before he threw Bilbo straight at Kili. Kili dropped his sword and opened up his arms to catch the Hobbit, but the impact threw both of them to the ground. Luckily, at that moment the rest of the company charged in from the trees at the edge of the clearing. They brandished their weapons and begun to attack the three trolls from all directions, jabbing and cutting their legs, slicing and poking their feet, throwing rocks at their faces and yelling out taunts to them.

More than a few times, the dwarves were thrown to the ground, as well as picked up and dropped. It was absolute chaos, really. I could see Bofur whacking and thwacking away at tree trunk legs while the creatures howled, yelped and screamed in pain. One of the blows that Bofur managed to land must have been so painful that it made the troll seethe in rage. The troll turned around and kicked Bofur; the dwarf landed a few metres away behind one of the other trolls, who was stepping back and back and back..

Josh was watching the same thing, and we both realised that Bofur was still dazed and hadn't gotten back up, and hadn't even seen the troll that was about to step on him. I looked at Josh as he looked at me with a determined look on his face, and in the next instant he ran out from behind the tree towards Bofur.

"Ah, _fuck_!" I yelled as I jumped out from behind the tree into the clearing. I ran up to the troll that was only a metre or so away from the dwarf that Josh had reached and was trying to help up. I didn't really know what to do, except for something that I was particularly good at; swearing and insulting.

"Hey! Hey you, you fat lump of shit! Come over here and get me, if you can catch me you big potato!" I yelled at the troll as I danced around. The troll caught onto my insults and on finding where they were coming from, he lumbered forward in an attempt to grab me.

I jumped to the side easily, and the troll roared in anger before taking another swipe at me. Again I ducked out of the way, and in doing so I picked up a rock and lobbed it with all my strength straight at its face. It hit him right in the eye and the troll covered his face with his fat hands and bellowed in pain. Josh had moved Bofur out of the way of the fighting in the meantime, and they sat just inside the clearing away from the fat trolls.

The troll stood back up and was about to go for me again, but he noticed four ponies run past him and looked to see that it was Bilbo who released them. The creature narrowed his eyes in anger at the hobbit, before quickly moving over and picking him up.

"Bilbo!" I yelled out, and the rest of the company looked to see that the trolls had moved together and had Bilbo held by the arms and legs. The company moved together also, and there were a chorus of yells and shouts in anger at the trolls and concern for Bilbo.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off," one of the trolls stated. Thorin looked at the troll, then at the hobbit, as if contemplating whether it was worth giving ourselves up for Bilbo. I glared at him (even though he didn't see) until he finally speared his sword into the ground. Everyone else threw down their weapons in bouts of frustration at not being able to fight to get Bilbo.

Once we were free of our weapons, one of the trolls held onto Bilbo while the other two came closer to where we were. One of them grabbed a handful of something from near their campfire, and the second started by picking up Bombur. The company started yelling again, and the first troll brought over a bunch of what looked like sacks.

With difficulty, they stuffed Bombur into one of them, and begun grabbing the rest of us and doing the same. The troll came to me and I held my breath as he picked me up, but I could still _smell_ the vile stench coming off of it in waves. As they threw me into the sack and tied it up, I started yelling at them in anger at being surrounded by the smell and chucked in a bag.

"Would it kill you to have a damn shower? You guys actually smell like something has died, far out." Their response was to throw me into the pile of dwarves (including Bilbo and Josh) and I landed on top of Thorin and Kili.

"Umph! Uhh, sorry guys," I said while groaning and rolled off of them. Their grunts and moans of pain were the only response I got, and I really hoped I hadn't broken anything of theirs.

The trolls started making a spitfire and picked Bofur, Dwalin, Dori, Nori and Ori to tie onto it. It actually looked like the most uncomfortable thing, being spun slowly around a fire; I could already see the dwarves sweating immensely with the heat, and they began yelling at the trolls to let them go.

"Don't bother cooking them. Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly."

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage."

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice!"

The trolls continued on like this for a while, discussing the best way to cook and eat us. I was starting to freak out again, because as you'd expect, I didn't want to get eaten by a fucking troll for dinner! I wriggled around in the sack I was in, trying to loosen the bag around me somehow, but it wasn't working.

"Argh!" I exclaimed in frustration. "I'll be damned if I let a troll eat me or my brother for dinner!" I began wriggling again, but I was told to stop by Thorin.

"Miss Amelia, stop your blasted moving, or you will draw attention to yourself and us." He hissed at me, and I just glared at him without a verbal response. He was right though, and even though I didn't like Thorin, I was glad that Josh was hidden from view behind the king-dwarf.

"Never mind the seasoning; we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone." One of the trolls grumbled to the other. All of a sudden, Bilbo jumped up and yelled out to the trolls.

"You're making a terrible mistake!" he stated, looking up at them.

"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" Dori yelled out to Bilbo, who had his back facing to us lying tied up on the ground.

"Half-wits?" Bofur exclaimed, "Then what does that make us?" I snorted in agreement with the dwarf; the trolls were so thick, and we had all managed to get captured by them and were about to be eaten.

"Uh, I meant with the uh, um, with the seasoning," Bilbo stammered out. I frowned at the hobbit, wondering what he was playing at. I looked behind the trolls and noticed a pale light coming over the rocks there. _Dawn_. The trolls were talking before about being turned to stone at dawn, and I guessed that was what Bilbo was playing on. But stone, _really_? I had my doubts that anything would happen, but Bilbo was smart as hell to play for time regardless.

"What about the seasoning?" the troll said, looking at the hobbit in curiosity.

"Well, have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." Bilbo said to the trolls quietly, but not quietly enough. The dwarves heard and roared in anger at him. Some of them were even calling him a traitor, and I rolled my eyes.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" The older looking troll asked almost suspiciously. I held my breath, hoping that they didn't see through Bilbo's plan.

"Shut up, and let the, uh, _flurgaburburrahobbit_ talk," the other troll said, still curious about what Bilbo was going to say next.

"Uh, the-uh, the secret to cooking dwarf is, um…" Bilbo seemed to be wracking his brain for something to suggest.

"Yes, Come on! Tell us the secret!" The curious troll said, trying to nudge an answer out of him.

"It's-uh, yes, I'm telling you, the secret is… to skin them first!" Bilbo sounded quite proud in spite of what he had said. The dwarves were outraged, and rightly so. Buying time was good, but not if we were going to get skinned in the process!

"What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all." The troll looked at us hungrily, and I had no idea how he just suggested cooking us but I shrunk down in my place away from his greedy eyes. The other troll (the dopey sounding one) begun to walk over to us as he spoke.

" 'e's right! Nuthin' wrong with a bi' of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy!" I froze, looking at his hungry eyes, and realising that he wasn't coming over for a chat. I closed my eyes and sunk further in my place, as I felt an immense weight against my body. _Well, I'm not going down without a fight_, I thought to myself.

I opened my eyes and my mouth, ready to yell every swear word I knew at the troll, but what I saw wasn't a troll about to pick me up. It was Fili, who was half lying on top of me. Immediately I tried to push him off.

"Fili, what the hell are you doing? Get off," I whispered angrily at him, and he narrowed his eyes at me, but didn't move.

"Stop talking Amelia; do you want the dim-witted troll to eat you first?" _Oh, right_, I thought in realisation. He was hiding me from the trolls, protecting me.

"Whoops, sorry," I whispered to him, smiling sheepishly. I looked over his shoulder to see that the creature had picked up Bombur, and was hanging him upside down above his mouth. I was about to yell something, but Bilbo got there first.

"Not-not that one, h-he's infected!" the hobbit yelled out in a rush. All of the trolls froze, looking at Bilbo in horror and disgust.

"You what?" one of them yelled out.

"Yeah.. He's got worms in his… tubes.." The troll holding Bombur gasped in shock and dropped him back on top of the group, narrowly missing Fili and I.

"In fact, they all have. They're in-infested with parasites. It's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't." Bilbo's plan was going well, until the dwarves (and Josh) roared in disgust at the accusation.

"What the hell, Bilbo! Don't make up crap!" Josh called out at the hobbit.

"Parasites, did he say parasites?" Oin questioned.

"We don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili yelled at Bilbo in anger.

They all continued, and I huffed out in frustration.

"Shut up, you lot! Can't you see what he's trying to do?" I said in a whisper. The group of dwarves on the ground went silent, before they changed tactics.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oin exclaimed.

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Kili yelled out proudly.

"We're riddled," Nori called out from the spit, as his brother Ori yelled in agreement, "Yes I'm riddled!"

The suspicious troll piped up then, an apprehensive look on his face. "What would you have us do then, let 'em all go?"

"Well…" Bilbo trailed off, as the troll yelled out in anger.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!" The troll moved to grab at the hobbit, but a loud voice from behind stopped him in his tracks.

"The dawn will take you all!" the voice bellowed, and I recognised it as Gandalf! I pushed Fili off of me so I could get a better look, and he made an '_oomph_' noise as I did so.

Gandalf was standing on a large rock, and I could see the sunlight begin to stream over from behind him. The trolls began asking whether they could cook Gandalf as well, but the wizard promptly lifted his staff and slammed it on the rock below him. He jumped to one side as a large split formed down the middle, breaking the rock clean in half, and allowing the sun to rush straight through.

The trolls howled and moaned in pain as they tried to shield themselves, but they began to stiffen until they stopped mid stance. I peered through the sunlight and realised that they had actually turned to stone. Like, literal stone, and they were frozen in their cowering positions. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and the company cheered and applauded for Gandalf.

Gandalf came and helped us out of the sacks, so we could all help the other dwarves off of the spit without them getting burnt. Gandalf and Thorin walked away from the company slightly to talk, and I found Bilbo in the meantime and picked him up in a big hug.

"Bilbo, you are brilliant. Thank you!" I exclaimed, smiling at him as I put him back down on his hairy feet. He blushed and fidgeted with his hands, before replying.

"It wasn't anything, Miss Amelia, but thank you nonetheless." He smiled at me, and the dwarves came over and patted him on the back in thanks for his quick thinking, despite not appreciating being called smelly and infested with parasites.

I also went over and gave Josh a hug, voicing my relief at him being okay.

"I'm glad you weren't eaten by a disgusting troll, little brother," I grinned at him and he punched me lightly on the shoulder as he replied.

"Yeah, it's good that you weren't turned into jelly or grilled or skinned, though even if they had tried you wouldn't have made it easy for them. It's funny when you become pissed off or super protective, you come up with the best insults. _Potato_." He emphasised the last word and begun laughing at me, but I joined in.

"Hey, don't hit on my creativity in stressful situations. I am a literary genius and swearing is my strong suit." I grinned smugly at him, and he just shook his head in laughter.

Thorin and Gandalf moved back to the group, telling us that there was more than likely a troll cave nearby, and we had to try and find it. We began searching, and it was Bifur and Gloin who found a large rocky formation with a large cave jutting inwards and downwards underneath said rocks into the ground.

Gandalf and Thorin entered first, followed by Bofur, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Dwalin and Oin. I was about to go inside, when I caught a waft from the depths of the cave. I just about ran to the closest tree, and I took long and deep breaths to try and forget the rancid and festering smell that had emitted from trolls 'living' space. I thought I was going to be sick, but Josh and Bilbo came over and were a welcome distraction.

"Oh hey guys, I'm just, you know, examining this tree," I said, trying not to seem as sick as I felt.

"Miss Amelia, you look as pale as a sheet." Bilbo said, his brows furrowing in concern.

"It's okay, it's just that cave smelt like rotten eggs, fish, festering milk and dead things all mixed in at once, so I'm just trying to recover." I dry-retched at my own explanation, and could have hit my 'literary genius' self in the head.

Josh knowingly moved the topic of conversation onto other things, like the fact that we had seen actual trolls and how no one would believe us if we ever did get home.

"You don't have trolls in your world?" Bilbo said, slightly shocked.

"Nah, not even hobbits, or elves or dragons. Just people, uh men." Josh explained. Bilbo hummed in thought, before he replied.

"I believe it might be a better world, particularly if you don't have dragons!" Bilbo said, still thinking about the information we had just given him.

"But Bilbo, not all monsters breathe fire or look like trolls." I grimaced at him, and he looked at me with sad eyes, but nodded in understanding.

The dwarves started emerging from the trolls cave, and when Gandalf finally came out he called Bilbo over to him. Josh stayed with me, and we sat down.

"We haven't slept in over a day," I said to Josh, and he sighed sadly. His favourite pastime was basically sleep, next to reading, playing video games and watching movies.

I looked over at Gandalf and Bilbo, and I saw that the wizard had given him what looked like a sword. I made a mental note to ask Gandalf if we could stop somewhere along the way to get a weapon for Josh and I. The thought of needing a weapon really disturbed me, and I would rather not have one (I'd rather just be naïve and pretend that the rest of the trip would be smooth sailing), but I had to be honest with myself. If the past few hours were anything to go by, we needed something better than rocks to protect ourselves with.

As if to echo my thoughts, Thorin began yelling out to the company.

"Something's coming!" A feeling of dread washed over me, and I jumped up as quickly as I could and dragged Josh with me. Holding onto his hand, I pulled him into the middle of the company as Gandalf yelled out.

"Stay together! Hurry now, arm yourselves!" The dwarves moved with lightning speed into the centre of the clearing we were in. They drew their knives, swords, Warhammers and axes out of their clothing and scanned the surrounding area in defensive positions. I was so tense, and I had made sure Josh was standing closest to the trolls cave but near Gandalf. If things went badly, Josh could hide in the cave. I had no fucking idea what we were expecting, but I could hear it approaching through the leaf litter on the ground.

All of a sudden, a sled led by a bunch of rabbits came into the clearing, only stopping just before running into the company. There was a man on the sled, dressed in completely brown; brown pants, a brown cloak and a brown hat. He had grey-brown hair and a beard that looked like it hadn't been washed ever, and the man looked absolutely terrified. I honestly felt like this was the sort of thing people imagined when they took drugs.

I could not imagine this situation getting any weirder. I looked around at the dwarves, and they looked just as confused and bewildered as I felt. Finally, Gandalf spoke.

"Radagast! Radagast the Brown. Ah, what on Earth are you doing here?" Gandalf moved towards the man, looking slightly suspicious. I realised that I recognised that name though. I wracked my memory, before realising that Gandalf had talked about a man called Radagast the Brown, who was actually a wizard. That made a bit more sense, but I was still confused as to what was going on.

"I was looking for you Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong." The poor wizard looked really scared, and it made me nervous. Well, if a powerful wizard is scared of something, then that surely means trouble, right?

"Yes?" Gandalf prompted, as Radagast frowned before responding.

"Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue." The wizard looked up to Gandalf in mild surprise, before continuing.

"Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's a silly old… Stick insect!" Gandalf had pulled an actual stick insect off of the tip of Radagast's tongue as he finished the sentence, and placed it on the ground. I had spoken too soon; it had definitely gotten weirder.

Gandalf and Radagast went into the forest a little way to speak privately and I frowned. I thought that we should know what was going on, especially if it freaked out the wizard that much (thinking about it though, it probably didn't take much to scare him). Ori and Bifur had gone to get the ponies in the meantime, and I went over to talk to Fili.

"Hey, Fili." He turned around from speaking to his brother, and looked at me with a cheeky smile.

"What is it Miss Amelia? Can you not keep away from me?" He winked at me, and I had to supress a laugh that was bubbling out of my chest.

"You're not irresistible like you think you are, you smartass." Well, he kind of was, but I wasn't about to admit that to anyone, or inflate his ego bigger than what it already was. "I came to say thank you for before. You didn't have to try and protect me, but thankyou anyway." I smiled at him, and he suddenly stood up quickly to face me.

"Amelia, can I pinky swear something to you?" His tone became deadly serious, and he looked at me with an expression I had seen before. It was that really intense look from Ori's drawing that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it made me breathless and I could only nod in response to his question. He lowered his voice, so that only I could hear him, but his gaze never left mine.

"I pinky swear to look after you Amelia. As Gandalf does, I believe that you are here for a reason; therefore I also believe that you need to be protected to discover this purpose." He was super serious the whole time, until he continued. "And, I also find you curious, and I don't want any harm to come to you." A blush dusted his cheeks and he looked away nervously. I don't think I had ever seen him so unsure of himself, and my chest was pounding a hundred miles an hour at the admission.

I put out my pinky finger, and he looked up at me with a small grin and took mine with his own, shaking it with emphasis like I had done the first time.

The moment was broken by a loud howl that echoed through the trees around us. We both froze, and I could hear Bilbo freak out.

"Was that a wolf? Are there- are there wolves out there?" He squeaked, looking to the dwarves for reassurance. But none came, and it was Bofur that replied.

"Wolves? No, that is no wolf." I came to my senses and moved close to Josh, again staying in the centre of the company. My timing was impeccable, as a growl came from above where I was standing not a few seconds ago. Everyone turned quickly with their weapons drawn, as a large creature jumped down from the rocks, knocking down Gloin in the process. Thorin was the fastest to act, and struck the large beast on the head with his sword several times, until it stopped moving.

The creature looked like a massive wolf, and I wasn't exaggerating; it was _huge_. I looked at it in shock, snapping my head upwards when Josh yelled, as a second wolf-thing stalked us from another ledge. It jumped, and Kili hit it mid-air with an arrow that he had drawn. The injured beast fell to the ground, and it was Dwalin who begun to strike it until it became completely still.

"Warg-scouts!" Thorin called, "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind!"

"Orc pack?" Bilbo exclaimed, looking like he was about to pass out.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf questioned Thorin.

"No one," the king replied, sounding almost confused.

"Who did you tell!" Gandalf commanded him to answer.

"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?" Thorin asked anxiously, not understanding what was going on.

"You are being hunted," Gandalf replied, sounding as anxious as Thorin.

"We have to get out of here!" Dwalin yelled out to us. Ori and Bifur had returned at that point, gasping for air as if they had run here.

"We can't! We have no ponies, they bolted!" Ori called out to us in fear.

I was standing close to Josh, rigid with fear. This was exactly what I was terrified of, and there was every chance that either or both of us wouldn't make it out of this. I inwardly reprimanded myself for being so bloody dumb; I shouldn't have said yes to coming on this and I should have taken him back to the shire when I had the chance.

I was snapped out of my inner struggle with my choices when Radagast bravely spoke up.

"I'll draw them off" He looked at Gandalf without fear, and in that moment I was so grateful for the strange little wizard.

"These are Gundabad Wargs, they will outrun you," Gandalf stated with a sense of finality. Radagast, on the other hand, wasn't having any of that.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits. I'd like to see them try," Radagast said proudly before running over to his rabbits, hoping on the sled, and with a final glimpse backwards, he raced off.

There was only a moments silence before Gandalf spoke to the company in a voice that conveyed both fear and courage, and it was all we could do to follow his command.

"Run."

* * *

**_*Khagam menu penu shirumund* - _Your father is beardless in Khazdul.**


	7. Chapter 7

I felt like I had been running for hours. My breathing was beginning to come in short and sharp, and I was finding it harder and harder to keep putting one foot in front of another. We had made it out of the forest and were now running in a single line across a plateau strewn with various boulders and rock formations. As soon as Gandalf told us to run, we did and we hadn't stopped since.

The only things that kept me going were the howls of the wargs not a hundred metres away, and the fact that I was trying to keep Josh at the same pace as the company. He could run short distances fine due to his unnaturally tall legs, but when it came to long distance, his fitness level was next to zero. He looked as red as a beetroot and was sucking in laboured breaths as we ran.

We were all struggling though, especially Bombur and some of the older dwarves like Oin and Dori, who seemed as though they were mere minutes away from giving up. I really didn't know how we were going to get out of this. Radagast could only hold them off for so long until they found us again, and for the millionth time in the past day I cursed myself for getting Josh into this mess.

We continued to run until Gandalf stopped us behind one of the rock formations. I barely had enough time to catch my breath before we were off again, running even faster than before. Josh was running in front of me and I continued to huff out encouraging words to keep him going, but I was starting to give up myself. I physically couldn't do it anymore, and I was starting to lag behind when we crashed to a stop behind another rock formation. We stopped so suddenly that I had whacked into the back of my brother.

I couldn't even catch my breath enough to form out an apology; doubled over, I dug my palms into my legs and scrunched my eyes scrunched closed while I tried to inhale as much air as I could. All of a sudden, Fili (who had been running behind me the entire time) grabbed my arm and dragged me closer to the rock we were hiding behind. I was about to question his move, when I heard a low growl from above us. I froze, looking Fili in the eye. He mouthed the words "be quiet", and I nodded to assure him that I wasn't going to make a dumbass move and get us all found.

I was so terrified though, and I think Fili picked up on it because he gently grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. I swear that if I didn't die from all of the running, or from the warg that was stalking us from above, I would die from the contact of my hand in his. I turned to face the front of the group, and he didn't let go of me. Thorin glanced at the rock above us, and then turned to Kili and nodded slowly. Kili nodded back, and he began to pull an arrow from the bag on his back. With his mouth set in a grim line, he shafted the arrow into the bow, and jumped out from behind the rock.

Kili loosed the arrow and it shot through the air; I couldn't see it hit the warg, but by the howls and screams of pain he obviously hit the mark. The warg fell down from atop the rocks, and there was a creature that tumbled to the ground next to it. Dwalin, Gloin and Thorin quickly moved to finish the warg, but the other creature unsheathed its weapon and began to fight. Without breaking a sweat, Dwalin blocked two blows before swinging his Warhammer around and smashing it in the side of the head with an audible _'crunch.'_

I stood, staring at the thing on the ground before Gandalf was yelling at us to run again and I was dragged by Fili. For the second time today, I felt like I needed to throw up; I felt physically sick from watching something die so horrifically in front of me. I assumed the thing that Dwalin killed was an orc, but I quickly forgot about what I had just witnessed when I heard a chorus of howls that sounded closer and closer with each second.

We kept running, faster still than we had before, but it was too late. In front of us we saw half a dozen wargs running towards us, and behind us I could hear howls and shrieks. We were surrounded without any escape.

"We're surrounded!" Fili yelled from beside me, and I looked wide eyed around at the company. We had spread out in a loose circle as defence, and Bilbo, Ori, Josh and Kili looked as terrified as I felt. At least Kili and Ori were doing something despite being scared shitless; Kili was shooting arrows into the closest wargs and orcs, killing them instantly, and Ori was shooting orcs with his slingshot, though it seemed to be pissing off the predators more than deterring them.

Josh was closest to Thorin and Dwalin as the wargs continued to stalk us, seemingly making it a game to watch us try and defend ourselves. I could hear it from the orcs who were snickering atop the beasts. It was then that I noticed Gandalf wasn't there, and I wasn't the only one that realised.

"Where is Gandalf?!" Bilbo yelled, and I could just about see him shaking where he stood.

"He has abandoned us!" Dwalin yelled, as the rest of the company moved closer together from the oncoming wargs.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin roared in his powerful kingly voice.

My terror subsided slightly when I begun to feel angry at being so extremely useless; I didn't even have so much as a butter knife to help defend myself from the creatures that were about to rip me, my brother and my new friends limb from limb. Fucking _fantastic_.

It was at that moment when new hope shone through.

"This way, you fools!" yelled Gandalf from behind us, and I turned to look to see that he was standing, half hidden, from behind a small rock jutting out from the ground.

"Come, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go!" Thorin cried out, and everyone ran towards where Gandalf had just disappeared from. I begun to run with them and saw Josh and Bilbo jump behind the rock and disappear as well, but I glanced behind me for some unknown, godforsaken reason. What I saw made my stomach curl. Kili was still standing in the midst of the enemy, loosing arrows into them. He hadn't moved, and I could see the wargs starting to run towards us in seeing that we had found an escape.

It was a split second decision I made, that I didn't know if I would regret later on, but under the circumstances I couldn't think about it too much. I ran as fast as I could towards Kili, ignoring the yells that I could hear behind me calling to both Kili and I. Reaching him, I grabbed the hand that was about to seize another arrow.

"Kili, hurry the fuck up!" I dragged him as we started to race towards the rocks. I could hear the shrieks of anger from behind me, though this time I didn't look back. We sprinted with all the energy we could muster, and as we reached the rocks, Thorin jumped down into a little cavern.

I moved myself behind Kili, and pushed him by his back into the cavern. In the process, a pain shot through my shoulder. Wobbling on my feet by the sudden jolt in my body, I tumbled downwards, sliding on my ass and landing on my stomach when I reached the bottom. I tried to use my hands to lift myself upwards, but my shoulder felt like someone had set it on fire. I cried out in pain and fell oh-so gracefully, flat on my face.

"Amelia! No!" I heard Josh yell, and there were hands everywhere trying to pick me up. They managed to draw me back into the group and sit me on my ass. I was panting in laboured breaths from each movement, and the pain that came from my shoulder was excruciating. My vision was becoming blurry and spotted, and I forced myself to speak.

"W-why does it feel like someone is-argh-amputating m-my arm," I managed to stutter out. It was Thorin who answered.

"Miss Amelia, don't move. Oin, remove the dagger."

"Are you telling me there is a fucking dagger in my back?" I breathed out, staring up at the dwarf. He nodded, before a sound of horns was heard in the distance, and he moved back to the entrance with his sword drawn. Oin quickly moved over towards me, and investigated the source of my pain.

"Amelia, we must remove the dagger this instant. It is an orcish weapon, and most likely dipped in poison. Are you ready?"

"Fuck no!" I growled out, angry at the question and petrified by the fact that I was probably poisoned. Josh moved to my side, taking my hand as he did so. Fili knelt down in front of me as well; Josh had a terrified look in his eyes but Fili looked like he was carved from stone. His jaw was clenched tight and his hands were balled into fists. I closed my eyes as Oin grabbed the weapon, and he pulled it out as fast as he could.

I screamed so loud I felt like my lungs would explode. Oin and Bilbo worked to bandage my arm as well as they could, but I could barely grasp onto what was happening around me. There was a thud next to me and some commotion, some yelling and suddenly we had to move. Josh and Fili moved me onto my feet, and I trudged along as well as I could, but I needed one of them supporting me as we went.

We kept walking, and any adrenalin that was in my system wore off quickly. I could tell by the pain that started to spread from my shoulder, across my back and down my arm. Or it might have been the poison doing that. I couldn't really tell, but I was getting to the point where my arms were beginning to feel redundant. I could barely feel them and I wasn't able to move them, even if someone were to offer me a cheeseburger and a block of chocolate.

"Josh, do you miss cheeseburgers and chocolate?" I half-laughed out, regretting it instantly as pain coursed throughout my body. I was feeling almost giddy, and Josh shot me a grim look.

"What in Durin's name are you talking about Miss Amelia?" Fili asked, looking at me with an expression mixed between bewilderment and concern.

"It's food from our, um, hometown." Josh replied to Fili's question.

"It's okay Josh, he knows where we are from," I whispered into my brother's ear. He frowned at me and opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it instead. I decided not to talk from then on because I was feeling pretty loopy and I didn't trust anything that was to come out of my mouth. That and the pain was getting more intense by the minute.

My vision was starting to blur again around the edges and I forcefully tried to blink it away (to no avail). We kept walking at a decent pace despite running for god knows how long. It got to the point where I was barely walking though. My feet dragged along the stone ground in crappy attempts at taking steps. Josh and Fili had their arms around my body, both of them having to support me by now. I could swear I _wasn't _that heavy, though.

The pain was radiating through my entire body. It felt like a fire was dancing throughout my insides; it coursed down my limbs, into my fingers tips and set the nerves there alight. I whimpered in the excruciating pain, and Oin looked back at me with a worried look on his face.

"Thorin, we must move faster. Miss Amelia is getting worse by the moment," I vaguely heard him say to Thorin, who was walking in front. We began walking faster, but Oin continued to look back at me with an ever growing frown of concern etched upon his face.

After walking for what felt like an eternity, we started to see some light in front of us and I felt a cool breeze against my face.

"Ah," I sighed, relishing the light wind against my cheeks and neck that had begun to drip with sweat. It was a welcome respite against the agony I was in, though the pain was still drilling into every fibre of my body. I had to clench my jaw tight to stop myself from crying in pain; I didn't want them to realise the extent of how it felt, especially Josh. We kept walking, starting downwards now, and I stole a glance at our surroundings instead of looking at my feet.

The breath caught in my throat when my eyes found the scene below us. There were waterfalls flowing from beautiful mountains and cliff faces; birds singing as they flew through the air around us; and nestled within the bottom of the cliffs were beautifully carved and intricate buildings.

I wanted to look more at the beauty that we were now walking into, but I didn't have the energy anymore. I could feel the strength leaving my body and I felt really sleepy. It was like I had been given a sedative, and I didn't have the power to question it. We came into a beautiful looking courtyard and finally stopped. I tried with all my willpower to move my arm from around Josh's shoulder, and dropped out of their grip onto the ground.

The pain roared through my shoulder but I couldn't do anything. All I wanted to do was sleep…

"I'm j-just.. Um, I'm gonna have a quick n-nap, yeah…" I mumbled as I begun to lie onto my uninjured side. I could hear my name being called out, but it sounded distant and fading, like background noise. I couldn't remember why my name was being called, but it made me feel warm and I drifted away, towards a peaceful light that glowed on the outskirts of my mind.

I didn't know how long I had slept for, but I woke up feeling stiff, though quite warm.

_Shit, I've slept in past my alarm, _I thought, flexing the tips of my toes. I didn't want to get out of bed just yet, especially because I would have to go to university. _I'm so sick of boring classes. _I frowned, eyes still closed. I think I could miss out on a lecture or two.

I tried to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, but there was a weird feeling in the back of my mind, like I was forgetting something. I attempted to ignore the feeling for a long time before I gave in, and wracked my brain for whatever was bugging me.

After ages of contemplation, I felt like I had a weird dream where I couldn't quite put my finger on what had happened. I let out a long sigh of frustration, but I decided to get up and make myself a cup of tea. That should get my good-for-nothing brain to start working again.

I rolled onto my side, and let out a moan of pain when I realised there was a dull ache in my shoulder. It started to throb through my upper back, and I finally opened my eyes.

I was in a room that wasn't my room. I jumped up (much to the distress of my body) and glanced around in shock. The walls and floor were carved from some type of light, grey stone. There was a wooden door to the left of the bed, and a table with flowers atop in the other corner. I was sitting upright in a large bed that had perfect white, silky sheets.

Looking down at my body, I saw that I wasn't wearing my clothes. I was wearing a long dress, and I started to frown more at the piece of clothing than at my situation. Glancing around again, I saw a window next to me and quickly jumped up to see if I could figure out what the fuck was going on.

Gazing out, I felt like I was hit with a tonne of bricks that just happened to be my memories. Everything came flooding back into my mind, like a dam had finally spilt over the banks. I remembered being in Middle Earth, and meeting Gandalf and dwarves and hobbits, and running into trolls and orcs and wargs and- oh! Josh!

I frantically tried to remember the last thing before I seemingly fell asleep. Closing my eyes and running my hand through my hair, I remembered that we had come into this strange beautiful place, and Josh was fine the last time I saw him. Everyone was fine. I sighed in relief, but I quickly tensed up again in realising I had no idea what this place was, how long I had been asleep, and whether they were still alright.

I began to rush over to the door, but it opened just as I had my hand reached out towards the handle. I jumped backwards and moved straight into a stance my martial arts instructor taught me; my knees were bent with one foot forward, and my hands were balled into fists close to my face.

The door moved open slowly, and a tall woman stepped inside. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised, and proceeded to put her hands up in defeat.

"I do not wish to harm you, my lady." Her voice was silky smooth, and as light as a petal. I lowered my arms slightly, but didn't move from my stance, even despite my aching shoulder.

"Please, Lady Amelia. My name is Arwen. My father sent me to check on your health; you have been asleep for a full rise of the moon and almost a full rise of the sun."

I squinted at her, trying to work that out. I guessed that it was about a day, but I felt uneasy. Where was my brother? Where were the rest of the company? As if feeling my anxiety, she spoke again.

"I can take you to see your brother and _friends_- she punctuated the word with the slightest sourness- soon. In the meantime, may I show you to the bathing house? Your clothes are not yet ready, but we have dresses that you are most welcome to wear."

A small smile graced her lips when I frowned at the mention of wearing dresses, but she didn't say anything. I didn't really dress up, not especially around people I didn't know. I liked to straighten my hair and go out with friends, but the closest I would come to looking like a girl was wearing bright coloured leggings. I had only worn dresses a few times, and I would much rather wear the shirt and slacks that I was clothed in before.

She gestured for me to follow her, and I did so reluctantly. As she turned around, I noticed her ears. They were pointed at the top, and then I clicked. _Elves! _Of course. The way the dwarves described them was that they were horrible creatures, but this one was really elegant and beautiful. She looked quite young though; she had sharp facial features that models would _kill _for and black hair that flowed down to the middle of her back.

She had intricate braids patterned in her hair, and I wondered why everyone in Middle Earth seemed to have them. All of the dwarves (except Kili) sported braids in their hair, though they were much more bulky than the ones Arwen had in hers.

We walked along stone stairs, moving downwards and downwards. There wasn't much to look at, especially when we continued further. I started to feel a damp heat, at first touching lightly against my skin, but becoming more suffocating until we reached a large cave type area.

It was filled with light; there were candles everywhere, placed around a large hot spring in the centre that steamed and bubbled with heat. The heat was welcoming and I begun to relax; it felt beautiful after so many bloody freezing nights that we had throughout our travels.

I realised that I hadn't spoken a word to Arwen the entire time, and I started to feel a little rude and extremely awkward.

"Arwen, thanks for bringing me down here and for the clean clothes." She smiled slightly and nodded her head before replying.

"There is a new dress and a towel at the edge of the bathing spring when you're ready. I will be waiting to change your bandages and escort you to supper with my father and your travel companions." She smiled again and quickly graced towards the stairs.

I frowned at her disappearing figure, wondering who her father was and why this _supper _sounded so intimidating. Turning back around, I made sure that no one was lingering in the vicinity before I started to undress. I took the bandages off my aching shoulder, and even though it was a bit difficult to do so, I felt fine. No giddiness, no agonising-_kill-me-now_ pain, no blurred vision.

Submerging quickly into the steamy water, I really tried to remember something, anything, from after we got into this place. All I could remember was feeling really peaceful, and seeing (or feeling, it was like all my senses were blurred together) a soft glowing light.

I didn't really know what that meant, and I didn't know much about the elves, or even dwarves or Middle Earth for that matter, but I imagined that they had some way to heal me quickly. I mean, I was now in a world where _trolls_ existed and _turned to stone_ in the sunlight; I don't think having a super powerful medicine exist was a far stretch in the light of what I had already seen.

I sunk into the spring, revelling in the sensation of the hot water on my filthy skin. I hadn't had a hot bath since Bilbo's house, almost a lifetime ago. We had stopped at streams along the journey so we could wash up, but it was harder for me being the only female amongst a group of males (despite whatever race they were).

I scrubbed my skin, being careful not to move my arm too excessively. I felt like I could honestly lie in the beautiful water forever, but after about half an hour, I had a niggling feeling in the back of my mind. I started feeling anxious, and I put it down to not being in a position where I could look after Josh.

I had spent every single moment of the last three weeks or so looking out for him, and the distance was making me worried. I was starting to feel like a bloody mother. Actually, I almost was. I had looked after Josh and taken responsibility from such a young age when our mother died and I only just realised that I accepted that role a long time ago.

Sighing at my uneasiness, I grabbed the towel from the side of the spring and stood up, wrapping it around me. Quickly drying my body and hair, I put on the dress (to my dismay) that Arwen had laid out for me. The colour reminded me of the sky on a sunny day spotted with clouds; the dress was a light blue and creamy white colour, and the sleeves ended at my wrists, though the ends pooled at my feet. I damned my short stature and examined the rest of the dress on my body.

Despite it being long, it fit nicely across my torso. The part I was most put out with was the upper region of the dress. The back rested just under my shoulder blades, revealing the upper part of my back, and dipped across my chest, revealing a little bit of cleavage. Not a lot, though just enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Looking at the silver lining, I thanked whatever god existed in Middle Earth that whoever changed me had left me in my matching black underwear and bra.

I was giving the dress one of the best glares I had, when Arwen spoke from behind me, making me jump half a metre into the air.

"You look lovely, Lady Amelia. Let me help you with redressing your wound." I thought to myself it would have been easier to do this before I had gotten dressed, but I would have felt way too exposed had I been naked in front of her. However, she was probably the one who healed my wound and changed my clothes in the first place. _Ugh, embarrassing._

She worked with agile and quick hands to bandage my shoulder and said it was healing nicely.

"And how exactly is it healing so quickly?" I turned to face her once she had finished, and she lifted her lips in the faintest hint of a smile.

"Elvish magic is very powerful. Most have heard of its powers, but you have not. How is this so? Where are you from?" She hadn't given away much through her expressions in the short amount of time that I had been in her presence, but now she became extremely curious. There was a glint of excitement in her eyes and an inquisitive smile on her face.

I still didn't know who she was, where I was or where my friends were, so I wasn't about to give anything away.

"Far away from here. Can I see my brother now?" I tried not to come across as rude, and I succeeded while still being able to tell her between the lines that I didn't want to talk about my home. She nodded without a verbal response, and let me back through the stone staircase that wound upwards.

It was then that I realised how hungry I was. My stomach rumbled and roared and I hoped that Arwen couldn't hear, though she probably did with her elf ears. Our path levelled out, and we began walking through a stone corridor towards a large wooden door.

The closer we approached, the louder the yells were on the other side of the door. I grinned at the all too familiar sounds of who I knew were the company, but I started to feel nervous. The last time I saw them I probably looked like crap and I had slowed them down. Would Thorin and the rest of them think that I was still a burden? We stopped at the entrance, and Arwen looked down at me with a reassuring smile. I swore she could read my mind, and she opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't be anxious, Amelia. Despite your questionable choice of company, they care about you. They came to your room many, many times to try and see you while you slept. We refused, of course, but they felt as though we were keeping you from them." She chuckled at this, and after a small wink in response to my inability to respond to her little piece of gossip, she opened the door and floated back the way we had come.

That left me standing in the doorway, by myself, in front of a courtyard full of dwarves and elves and Gandalf, Bilbo and Josh. I didn't know what to do, except send an awkward little wave in the direction of now silent, gobsmacked company. As always, Bofur was the one to speak up first.

"Amelia! Lass, you are alright! Ha ha!" he exclaimed, and jumped from his seat to saunter towards where I was still standing uncomfortably. I let out a little squeak of pain as Bofur gave me a great hug, but I relaxed immensely; at least he didn't think I was a burden after I got myself stabbed and had to get them to carry me hours to where the elves lived.

I was seriously beginning to form a habit of getting myself hurt, though at least I was consistent in something.

He let me go as most of the rest of the company came over to us. Josh quickly pulled me into a tight hug, and I hugged him back as hard as I could.

"Please don't do that ever again, Amelia," he said to me. When he pulled away, I could see the hurt etched on his face. I nodded fervently and I felt terrible for putting him through the whole ordeal.

"I'm glad you are healed, Amelia," a small voice said from beside me. It was Ori, and despite his objections I pulled the young dwarf into a hug. Many of the other dwarves, as well as Bilbo, pulled me into their embrace and said how glad they were that I was alright. All but Thorin and Dwalin, which wasn't particularly surprising, but it still hurt a little.

Once the company began to move back to their seats and continue eating, Fili came up to me and hugged me. He felt so warm in comparison to the cool evening breeze, especially since I was in this dumb dress that wasn't meant to protect from the cold. He whispered into my ear while he held me.

"I'm so sorry I didn't protect you. I swore to you that I would and I broke that promise. But thank you for protecting my brother." He let go of me then and looked at me sadly, but I didn't blame him for what had happened.

"Fili, it was my choice to do what I did. Unfortunately you can't protect me from myself, so I don't blame you or anything like that." I smiled at him and we moved to the table where the company was sitting. He seemed to relax, but the way his shoulders were slouched slightly made me feel like he still felt guilty.

I was about to sit down in between Balin and Fili, when Thorin stood suddenly from another table, where Gandalf and another elf sat with him. The two looked at him with unreadable expressions as he stormed away. I think if I had sat down quicker, I would have been out of the firing line of Thorin's already bad mood, but it was too late. He spotted me and came my way; I cringed back at the way he held himself and how intimidating he was.

"What kind of idiotic stunt did you think you could pull yesterday? You are not trained in battle, and you couldn't defend yourself against a simple dagger. If you cannot fight, you should not be on this quest." He shot a glare in the direction of Bilbo and Josh as well, who shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

I wanted to yell something back at him, to tell him how much of a twat he was for thinking that I was useless, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. He had played on my insecurities and ultimately he was right. I couldn't fight and I had almost gotten killed. Why was I still here?

The least I could do was hold his stare until he relented and stormed out of the courtyard. When he did, I finally plonked down into my seat and tried to take in deep breaths. I honestly felt like I wanted to cry right there and then, but I wasn't going to prove his point any more than he already had.

The company was silent during Thorin's outburst, but had begun talking again, though quietly, as soon as he left. I was looking at the food in front of me, not really feeling hungry anymore, when Balin touched my arm.

"Miss Amelia, do not mind Thorin. Being in the company of elves is making him tense. Without your quick thinking yesterday, Kili would have been injured, if not fatally." I picked at a lettuce leaf I had put onto my plate, pulling it apart beneath my fingers.

"You're just saying that," I said, feeling deflated.

"No, lassie. We all saw it, even Thorin. When you pushed Kili down into the cavern yesterday, you placed yourself in the way of the dagger that was aimed for his back. You saved Kili, and I feel as though Thorin is too stubborn to admit it. He is the boy's uncle of course, and he feels as though it is his responsibility to protect him."

That I understood. I felt empathetic for Thorin then, because he had to take back his homeland and in the process still manage to look after his two nephews. I realised that the guilt I had seen in Fili was probably because he was supposed to look after his brother as well, but it wasn't him that had been able to yesterday.

I nodded in response to Balin, and looked to the dwarf sitting on the other side of me. He was busy picking at his food as well.

"Fili," I whispered, and he looked up to me. "Kili is safe, yeah? That's all that matters." He smiled genuinely at me in understanding, and nodded his head. I felt a little better then, but the company was still only talking silently amongst themselves and the music that was being played by the elves was really, truly miserable. I wasn't the only one who thought so, too.

"Hey, change the tune! It feels like I'm at a funeral!" Nori exclaimed, to which his hearing impaired brother replied.

"Did somebody die?"

"There's only one thing for it lads!" Bofur piped up, before proceeding to jump out of his seat and atop a wooden stool at the end of the table. I gazed curiously at the dwarf, and the room filled with anticipation.

"There's an inn," he drawled in a low toned voice. And then he began to sing in a fast paced rhythm, to which each of the dwarves quickly joined in.

_There's an inn, there's a merry old inn  
beneath and old grey hill  
And there they brew a beer so brown  
that the man on the moon himself  
came down one night  
to drink his fill._

_The ostler has a tipsy cat,  
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;  
and up and down he saws his bow  
Now squeaking high,  
now purring low,  
now sawing in the middle._

_So the cat on the fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,  
a jig that would wake the dead.  
He squeaked and sawed and  
quickened the tune,  
While the landlord shook the Man on the Moon:  
'It's after three he said!'_

Food was thrown everywhere, even at the elves that were standing around the courtyard. I had copped some salad to my face (and something creamy to my dress, to which I thought made an improvement), but I was much better off than most of the others sitting around the table. Josh had smeared something in Kili's hair and had received it back twice as bad. Bilbo had food covering his cheek and what looked like some form of alcohol dripping off his blonde curls. He looked absolutely unimpressed, and was glaring at the dwarves as though it would make them somehow disappear.

He glanced over at me with his frown still intact, and I poked my tongue out at him and chuckled at his response. His expression was a mix between shock, bewilderment and '_do-I-fucking-know-you?_'

I attempted to eat what food hadn't been used in the fight, though I didn't manage to get enough to fill my stomach. I was feeling a lot happier than I did before though; I felt like I held a place in the company in most of the dwarves eyes. Even though Thorin still didn't like me, and Dwalin wasn't particularly fond of me, I knew that as long as Gandalf was with us that I wouldn't be kicked to the gutter.

I didn't realise how much I had depended on the company, the first people that we found when we landed in Middle Earth. Josh and I fit in with most of them, and they had really begun to feel like a family. I knew that despite the feeling of constant frustration I had at myself for allowing Josh to go on this journey, I couldn't back out now. We had said that we would help the dwarves; it wasn't just that we wanted to figure out our reason for being here, but we felt like we now owed it to them to help.

After dinner, I found out that my clothes had been repaired and washed, much to my relief. After changing out of my food-stained dress, I went back to the courtyard where the dwarves, Bilbo and Josh had been sleeping. Bombur and Nori had started a small fire in the middle of the space, though I doubted that the elves would approve of it.

Despite Arwen insisting that I sleep in the room that had been lent to me, I wanted to be close to the company. It had felt amazing to sleep in a bed after weeks of sleeping on the ground, but the constant presence of the company had become comforting over the time Josh and I had been with them.

The courtyard that they had overrun was beautiful in its simplicity. The same stone that was used for the corridor floors was used out here. There were several pillars of the same stone, covered in flourishing green vines that wrapped themselves around and around. There was some type of material used above us in narrow, straight lines, that the vines had also taken hold of and formed a loose ceiling. We could still see the stars though, and I lay in my sleeping bag looking at the yellow and white lights that filled the sky. My peaceful trance was interrupted by a snickering that came from a metre or so away from me.

Glancing in the direction of the noise, I saw Kili and Fili lying on their stomachs side by side, with their elbows propping them up. Kili was holding a feather to a pair of feet that protruded from the nearest sleeping bag. Through squinting my eyes, I could vaguely see by the limited firelight that they were two hairy hobbit feet.

Whenever Bilbo's feet moved, the brothers would drop their heads down and pretend to be sleeping, only to snort in laughter and try again. Half of me found it amusing, but the other half felt sorry for poor Bilbo who probably wouldn't appreciate being woken up by having his feet tickled.

Sure enough, there was a loud _'thwack'_; the sound of contact between a hobbit foot and a dwarves head. Kili gave away all attempts at being quiet and roared in laughter at Fili, who had been on the receiving end of the kick.

"By Durin's beard, Mr Baggins, your feet are as hard as rock!" Fili grunted while rubbing the top of his head. Bilbo had sat up at that point, glaring at the two dwarves. Seriously, if looks could kill.

"Will you stop that! It has been a long day and I need some rest," the little hobbit huffed at Fili and Kili, who were looking innocently back at him.

"Why are your feet so hard though, Bilbo?" Fili exclaimed. "Is that why you are able to walk without the use of shoes?" Bilbo crossed his arms in frustration.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about my feet," he deadpanned. It was in vain though; Fili and Kili's curiosity had been piqued and they weren't going to give up so easily.

"Why are they so hairy though? I have never seen so much hair on one being's feet in my life, it is so strange!" Kili inquired, trying to touch Bilbo's foot again but the hobbit quickly tucked it under himself. However, the statement offended Bilbo and he frowned at the young Durin.

"My feet are perfectly normal, thank you! I am a hobbit, and hobbits have hair on their feet for warmth against the elements. What is truly strange is having no hair at all on your feet!" Bilbo looked at the two in exaggerated disgust, luring them in. Of course, they took the bait.

"Hey, our feet have hair on them also! Dwarves are a very hairy race." The brothers seemed to take offence to being called hairless, and they began to argue over who had the hairiest feet. I snickered at their bickering, and wondered about my world. I think that people there would argue about who had the least amount of bodily hair. While it was a slightly absurd comparison, it showed such a stark contrast between my home and Middle Earth; they really were worlds apart.

Turning away from the three, I looked back to the night sky. With the sound of their dispute in the background, I began to doze off into a sleep full of dreams of dwarves, elves and hobbit feet.

* * *

**Hey guys! I hope you are all having a wonderful time doing whatever it is you do :) This chapter was up much later than I anticipated as I moved to the city and started university again :) Enjoy the chapter and please review/follow if you have the chance! :))**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you to Darth-Nyx for your review, and to my new followers! You guys are the greatest :) I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, and I hope you're enjoying reading it. This chapter is a little bit darker, but I feel like this was the way the story needed to go (at least for the moment!) Thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

I glanced over at the sleeping bodies of the company. Only one seemed to be stirring, and I knew who it was instantly by the tuft of blonde curls. Bilbo slowly sat up and stretched, noticing me in the process. He smiled sleepily and came over to where I stood at the ledge overlooking the world below.

"Good morning, Miss Amelia," he said cheerily. I guessed he managed to get enough sleep during the night despite the dwarf brothers annoying the crap out of him. I frowned at his use of 'Miss", (God knows I've told them so many times to just call me Amelia), but I didn't say anything. The company still used the term most of the time, but only Ori stopped using the title completely. It was beginning to be more than a title though; it made me feel like I belonged in a way. When Thorin said it though, it sounded like he was saying it more out of forced courtesy and less out of actual respect.

I had been immersed in my thoughts, while Bilbo had been asking how I was feeling. Finally registering what he had said the second time he asked, I replied.

"I'm feeling way better. My shoulder aches a little bit when I move it, but it's already mostly healed. I don't know how, I mean Arwen said it was magic, but it's weird. Nothing like that exists in my world." I looked towards the landscape that spread out in front of us, wondering about my world. I was starting to miss the simplicity of it. It was easy, and I knew what to expect most of the time. This place was a whole other ball game.

"When we came into Rivendell, I felt a strong power. To me it felt calming, relaxing, but intense. The dwarves felt it, but it made them extremely nervous and uncomfortable. Gandalf said that it was Elvish magic. Can you feel it too?"

Thinking back on our entrance to this place- _Rivendell_, Bilbo called it- was a bit of a blur. But I remembered feeling really sleepy and calm, just before I passed out and missed a whole day.

"Just before I collapsed, I felt really sleepy and relaxed, that's why I wanted to lay down for a nap." Bilbo nodded in understanding, and replied after a few moments.

"It sounds as though you felt the Elvish magic when you were injured; it may have even made you drowsy enough to allow you respite against your injury through sleep. The elves really are incredible." He whispered the last sentence and looked over his shoulder as if to make sure no one had heard him. I understood completely. The dwarves despised the elves last time I checked.

"I really am glad you are well though Miss Amelia. I-we were so worried, we thought that we may have lost you.." Bilbo trailed off, looking down at his hairy feet. I gently took his hand and gave it a small squeeze. He looked up at me with blushing cheeks and a small smile. Letting his hand go, I replied.

"Thanks Bilbo, it means a lot. Though I don't think all of you were worried. I could name at least two dwarves that would be quite happy to see me out of the picture." I laughed bitterly, glancing in the direction of the sleeping dwarves in question. Bilbo sighed sadly.

"I understand how you feel. I.. I don't feel like I am accepted among the company. Yes, there is Josh and yourself, and Ori and Bofur are quite friendly, but.. I just feel as though I am useless, like I can't help them with anything. Most nights I wonder why I left Bag End. This journey has been horrible so far, we have faced death twice already! Rivendell is spectacular though. I feel.. Oddly comfortable here, and I really hope that we can stay a while."

I really, truly felt what Bilbo was feeling. We had both been thrown into the deep end with unexpected turns of fate, and it was hard being out of your comfort zone. There were some nights where all I wanted to do was go home, but each time I reasoned with myself that it wasn't worth it. Not if going back meant that Josh had to continue to live with our twat of a father. I would sacrifice the comfort of that world to keep him safe.

"Try not to worry about Thorin and that, Bilbo. I want you here, and so does Josh. Gandalf wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't think you were worth it." He smiled at my words, but it didn't reach his eyes. He still looked worried and a little sad, and my heart went out to him. He had a heart of gold and came along on this quest to reclaim someone else's home, yet Thorin still didn't appreciate him.

I placed a hand on his arm in attempt to reassure him, and we continued to look out over the ocean that spread further than our eyes could see. The sun was climbing steadily in the sky, and I could hear the dwarves behind us beginning to wake.

* * *

The elves had brought us breakfast, though the dwarves weren't very impressed. It was mostly fruit and some fried eggs; the company made it quite clear that they wanted meat for their next meal. The two Elvish men looked down at the dwarves with a hint of disgust, but made the slightest of nods and left without a word.

Thorin was still in a shitty mood, which was no surprise. He glared at anyone that so much as spoke or moved in his direction, and I made sure to stay well away. I didn't need him to tell me again how useless I was on this quest; I knew it all by myself. It didn't mean that I was going to relent under his bullying though. Despite my feelings of inadequacy, I still wanted to try to prove that I could be of help.

It seemed as though I was going to get my chance that morning. The company decided that they were going to make use of the training field in Rivendell to practice and sharpen their weapons. They collected their knives, axes, swords and bows and begun to leave, and I walked over to talk to Josh.

"Hey there little brother," I said casually, punching his arm lightly. He smiled back at me, but then looked at my shoulder and frowned slightly.

"Is your shoulder okay? You shouldn't have slept on the ground last night you idiot. You could have torn the wound open." He moved to look at my shoulder, trying to see the injury. I smiled to myself; who was being the mother hen now?

"Josh, it's already healed, it's fine," I laughed slightly. He looked back at me with wide eyes.

"How the hell is it already healed, it only happened two days ago?" He moved the fabric of my shirt and bandage down slightly to look, and gasped.

"Amelia, it's… It's just a scar.. How-what?" He stammered in shock.

"The Elves used magic to heal me apparently. Don't worry, it freaked me out too." He shook his head in shock at first, but his expression quickly changed to amazement.

"That is awesome! Could you imagine how many people that could be saved in our world? People who are in critical condition from accidents, like work injuries or car accide-" He cut himself off, realising what he just said. He looked at me sadly, tears starting to well in his eyes.

"Hey, it's alright Josh." I gave him a hug, squeezing him tight. When I let him go, I looked up into his sad green eyes. "She would be so proud of you. Don't forget that, okay?" He smiled sadly at me and swiped at a tear that had escaped down his cheek.

"Come on, I know what might cheer us up," I said, following the path the dwarves had gone down. We twisted through paths and down corridors, through gardens and past fountains of water. The only way I managed not to get lost was from the amount of sound coming from the thirteen dwarves; they were so bloody loud!

We finally came into a courtyard area, much, much larger than the one we were sleeping in and without the pillars covered in vines throughout. Instead of the floor being polished and spotless with grey stone, the ground here was just dirt. There were targets on one side of the courtyard, and some benches around the edges. There also seemed to be an assortment of weapons displayed on several racks, and tools supplied that some of the dwarves were already using to sharpen their weapons.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" Josh said, looking slightly anxious as he glanced around at the company.

"We need to be more prepared on their journey," I whispered to him. "Most of them think that we are useless, so we should practice at some self-defence and prove them wrong. I would feel much better if we knew how to use something." He glanced at me nervously, obviously put out by the idea.

"But Amelia, I can't. I have no idea about weapons in real life. Okay, yeah I play tonnes of video games but it's not the same."

"Josh, it's either we man up and learn how to defend ourselves or we stay in Rivendell and find a way back to our world," I replied, though not unkindly. I was feeling just as nervous, because this was probably going to end in me humiliating myself.

I started to walk towards Kili and Fili, who were sharpening their weapons by the targets. Kili had his bow strapped to his back while he was sharpening his arrows with a piece of stone. Fili was sharpening an identical pair of daggers that were thick and about thirty centimetres long.

They noticed us as we reached them, and Kili looked at me nervously while standing up quickly.

"Miss Amelia, I didn't thank you yesterday. You put yourself at great risk to protect me the day before last, and I thank you and your courage. I am in your debt." He bowed very deeply, and I felt very awkward. I could hear the chattering from the dwarves behind us quieten and I fidgeted with the end of my shirt.

"Stand up, you idiot. You don't owe me anything; I just did what anyone else would have done." He stood up then, all seriousness gone and half laughing at me.

"Oh, you wound me Miss Amelia!" He said, clutching his heart. Finally, the dwarves were back to talking amongst themselves behind us, so I took the opportunity to ask for Kili's help.

"Actually, there is something you can do. Can you guys help Josh and I practice with some weapons? We want to be able to defend ourselves." Fili stood, smirking at us and then at his brother.

"Aye then lass. Though, what weapon will you both choose? Surely it will be some form of dagger or knife." He shot a lop-sided grin to his brother, who frowned at him.

"No, I'm sure that Josh at the very least will use the bow and arrow." Kili looked at Josh, who, obviously still nervous, replied shakily.

"Um, yeah sure. I mean, I could try it I guess," he managed to get out. Kili smirked at Fili before jogging over to a weapons rack and pulling a slender bow and a few arrows off of it. Josh glanced at me apprehensively and then walked over to where Kili had begun to adjust a target.

"What is your weapon of choice, Miss Amelia?" Fili said, walking me over to another weapons rack that held swords, knives and daggers. He picked up a large sword, which was quite thick and long. He held the weapon out to me expectantly, and I just looked at him blankly.

"Ugh, Fili, I don't think that I would even to be able to lift that up, let alone defend myself with it." Feeling a little cheeky, I added "I mean, I know my muscles look super huge and all." I lifted up my arm, flexing the small amount of muscle there. He just laughed at me and retorted with "What muscle?" as I glared at the back of his head while he looked at the other weapons.

Moving to stand next to him, I scanned through the Elvish weaponry that lay before me. Fili was muttering something about terrible blacksmithing when I laid my eyes on a pair of blades.

The hilts were about twenty centimetres long, and were a brown colour tempered with intricate patterns of green. They met the slender, silver blades that were also patterned with beautiful lines and carvings. The sleek blades on each were about forty or fifty centimetres long and slightly curved at the top.

I picked them up, feeling the weight in each of my hands. They were heavier than I expected, but not so heavy that I was unable to hold them comfortably. I gently ran a finger along the top of one of the blades and along the sharp edge, being careful not to cut myself. It felt smooth but incredibly strong. I became entranced by the dual blades, and Fili coughed slightly to get my attention. I lifted my head to look at him; he had a huge smile plastered across his face.

"Beautiful, are they not?" He said quietly, looking at me while he spoke. I blushed and looked back at the blades. "Come, I will show you how to wield them."

He led me back towards the targets, though out of the way of Kili and Josh who were now notching arrows in their bows. Josh looked more relaxed, and I felt like Kili must have been doing a good job at making him comfortable. I noticed that Ori was sitting over on one of the benches with a sketch book on his lap and a pencil in hand, head moving up and down furiously to look between the paper and whoever he was sketching. Bofur was also sitting down, smoking on a pipe and looking up at the mid-morning sun.

Fili stopped, faced towards me and swiftly grabbed two of his daggers from the belt strapped around his waist. I looked again at the dual blades that I held, grasping them firmly.

"You need to hold them at the end of the hilt, away from the blade. It allows you greater movement with the weapons." I did as he said, gripping the blades a little closer to the end of the brown hilts.

"Now, you must fall into stance. It makes it easier to move and also to defend yourself. Place your leg in front of the other, and bend your knees." Again, I did as he suggested, though I already knew this. I fell into the stance I used in martial arts, though I didn't hold my hands to my face at the risk of stabbing myself.

"Good. Now, I am going to charge you and I want you to block my attack. Ready?" _Nope_, I thought, but I nodded my head anyway. Expecting him to strike quickly, I was surprised by his slow motion and blocked the dagger from above my head with my blades. He smiled, and moved back into his position.

"Good. Now again, faster."

We had been at it for almost an hour, and I was burning in the midday sun. I had started with using my good arm, but Fili wanted me to swap to my injured one to see how I went. Obviously the wound had already healed and scarred because of the Elves magic, but it absolutely ached. Most of my body did really. We had practised different blocking movements, and then each one at faster speeds, then combinations that Fili made up as he went along.

I was drenched in sweat, and needed to stop for a bit. Fili agreed, though he wasn't struggling nearly as much as I was. We rested for some food (the Elves had brought us a variety of meat, to the dwarves delight) and water. As soon as we were finished eating we began again; Dwalin and Gloin were fighting quite intensely while Oin and Dori took their sparring a bit slower; Bifur, Balin and Thorin were sharpening their various weapons; Nori and Bombur had sat down with Ori and Bofur to watch after practising some techniques, and Josh and Kili still worked at their shooting (which Josh was becoming quite good at).

We continued for another hour or so, when I noticed for the first time (surprisingly) that Bilbo wasn't with us. I was wondering where he had gone to, when Fili knocked one of my blades out of my right hand, where it flew to the ground. I scowled at the dwarf.

"Hey! I wasn't ready," I exclaimed, making a move to pick up the weapon, but he blocked me.

"Amelia, Orcs will not wait til you are ready to fight when they strike you. You must be prepared and you must concentrate." He aimed a blow at my head, which I only narrowly blocked. I frowned at him, beginning to become frustrated under the heat of the sun and the intensity of this training.

"Can't we just stop and rest for a little bit?" He snorted at me in response, and I took that as a no. Seeing my opportunity, I swiped for his stomach with the sword in my left hand, and as he jumped back in mild surprise, I was able to pick up my second blade.

"Well how about I teach you something that I know?" I said almost casually, hoping to pique his interest. He took the bait as I expected.

"Oh, and what is that?" I took my blades and placed them on a bench closest to me, motioning him to do the same. He looked at me inquisitively, and put his daggers next to mine.

"Okay, hold out your hand like this." I outstretched my hand in front of me, and held my open palm so that it was facing side on. He followed my actions, and I took a few steps backwards, falling back into stance with my palms balled at my cheeks.

"Miss Amelia, what are you doing?" He frowned at me, seemingly becoming uncomfortable at the fact that he didn't know what I was about to do.

"Just keep your hand outstretched, and it shouldn't hurt too much," I said, and before he could even make a noise, I moved. Spinning on my front leg, I whipped my back leg around as fast as I could. My foot connected perfectly with his open palm, sounding with a loud '_thwack_!' and the exclamation of a stunned dwarf.

He looked at me with a dumbstruck expression and cradled his palm in his other hand.

"How did you do that? I didn't realise you could move that fast!" he said, a grin creeping across his face. "You must teach me to do that!" I smiled at his enthusiasm, but I felt so physically drained. I didn't think I could continue for today.

"Tomorrow? I'm exhausted; there is no way I can do anymore of this right now." He nodded in understanding, and we began to watch Kili and Josh instead. Josh was really getting the hang of the bow. He had loosed dozens of arrows into the target; many of them missed at first, but with each one he was getting closer to the middle mark. He was even smiling and laughing with Kili and the other dwarves who were sitting down and watching him, cheering him on and encouraging him.

I looked to where the other dwarves were still sparring and sharpening their weapons. Dwalin had stopped fighting with Gloin, and was quietly talking to Thorin. Thorin glanced over towards where we stood and looked back to Dwalin, nodding at whatever he was saying. I started to feel a bit sick to the stomach in nervousness. I felt like they were talking about us, and my fear was confirmed when Thorin nodded Dwalin in our direction, and the large dwarf began to walk over to where we were.

He held his huge Warhammer in hand, and I edged closer to the blades that were currently sitting on the bench. I thought that he was going to approach me, but he went over to Josh. Josh noticed him as he approached, and despite being taller than the dwarf, he looked terrified.

"Pick up a sword, boy," Dwalin said in his deep voice. Josh just looked at him with a mix of confusion and alarm.

"Wha-why?" He stuttered out. The other dwarves had gone quiet and were watching on expectantly. I grabbed my blades from the bench and made a move towards them, but Fili stopped me. I glared at him, and he whispered in my ear.

"Dwalin wants to test Josh's abilities." His expression was stony, but when I looked into his eyes I could see concern in them.

"With a sword that he hasn't practiced with? Your uncle and Dwalin are trying to set him up for failure," I growled at him, and shrugged out of his grip to move over to Josh, who was still confused as all hell.

"Why don't you get him to show you what he can do with the bow and arrows? He has been practising with that all morning." I said evenly to Dwalin, standing beside my brother.

"What good is that in hand to hand combat? If he is attacked by an Orc within an arm's length, an arrow will not help." I felt some undertones to what the dwarf was saying, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Kili drop his head. I could feel the anger begin to stir within me, and I glared at the dwarf.

"This is the first time we have used weapons like this before. You can't expect us to be experts straight away; we didn't grow up with intense training like you did."

"And where exactly did you grow up? From what I can recall, you have not told us where you are from and why you are here. There is no reason for us to trust you as a part of this company." So, this was their motive. They were trying to find any excuse to get rid of Josh and I, and obviously testing our almost non-existent fighting abilities would be the way to go.

"Gandalf trusted us enough to invite us on this quest with you. Do you not trust a wizard's judgement?" The dwarf snorted in response, and continued his verbal assault.

"If you cannot prove to us your physical abilities in fighting, then you will not continue with us on this journey. There will be no one joining us that may compromise the claiming of our homeland." That was it. That was the last straw. I was so done with people telling Josh or I that we weren't worth it. We had dealt with enough of it through our father, and I wasn't going to stand here and let someone bully me into defeat.

"No. We don't have to prove anything to you." I took a few steps to my right, to face Thorin who was watching from across the courtyard. "Thorin, if you think you're so tough, then come over here and fight us yourself instead of getting your pit-bull here to do it for you." Thorin stood slowly, glaring daggers into me. He walked over, unsheathing his sword.

"If that is what you wish," he growled, almost reaching me. I outstretched my hand to stop him though, wanting this to be fair.

"You wanted hand to hand combat, so let's make it exactly that. No weapons, just us." I placed my blades back onto the bench, and faced him again. "If I win, you have to stop being a prick towards me and my brother, and Bilbo, and let us continue on your quest. If you win, have it your way. We will stay here." I was boiling with anger, and I heard some murmurs of annoyance from Dwalin and the older dwarves at the way I was speaking to their King.

At that moment, I didn't care. I would probably get a mouthful from Balin later though about resisting the urge to call their leader derogatory names.

Right now, Thorin was stabbing his sword into the ground to my right. He took off his animal skin cloak and walked back over to where I was standing. I was fully aware of all of the dwarves watching us now, and it made me nervous. I quickly extinguished the feeling with the anger I still felt swirling through my veins.

"Ori should be the judge of who wins, because I think he is the most unbiased one here," I said loudly, and nodded to a confused Ori who hopped off of the bench he was sitting on and moved towards us.

"So be it. Ori, you will call the winner when the other forfeits or is defeated." And with that, Thorin lunged towards me. I barely had a second to jump out of the way; he was so bloody fast and I didn't expect it at all. I spun around and fell back into my defensive stance. He came at me again with punches flying. They weren't typical punches though; they were all over the place and hard to predict. I managed to block most of them, but one landed and connected with my injured arm; pain vibrated through my back and I cried out in agony, but jumped out of the way before he could land another blow.

He was being fuelled by anger; I could see it in his eyes. I couldn't understand why he hated me so much though, I honestly hadn't done anything wrong to him. It seemed like it was more misplaced anger, and I just seemed to be on the receiving end each time. I realised that I was going to have to think about my moves rather than be driven by the anger that I felt, like Thorin was doing. I needed to outsmart him.

It was harder than it sounded.

He had so much energy and was stocky and strong but quick as well. I was becoming exhausted, while he still tried to find ways to land blows to me. At one point a punch connected with my ribs when I didn't move out of the way quickly enough and I reeled in pain.

"Uncle, stop it! This has gone far enough!" Fili yelled, looking between the two of us. He didn't interfere physically though; I think he knew that if he interfered, Thorin would win and we would be officially kicked out of the company.

I needed to end this fast somehow, because my body was aching in pain and I wasn't going to be able to stand soon. I mustered up as much energy as I could, and aimed for his weak spots. I jumped backwards and swung my leg around in a spinning hook kick, the one that I showed Fili earlier. Thorin was too busy aiming for a blow at my ribs again that he was taken aback by my sudden movement backwards and didn't have time to protect his face when my foot connected with his cheek.

He growled loudly in anger, lunging for me again. I sidestepped to the right, and used my uninjured arm and his momentum to clothesline him to the neck. Using his sudden stop to my advantage, I wrapped my arm around his neck tightly, and swung myself around, throwing the dwarf to the ground.

Before he could collect himself and stand back up, I jumped atop of him, straddling him around the waist with my knees pinning his arms by his sides. Quickly moving my own, I wrapped both arms around his neck, grasping my own forearms and squeezing his neck in between my grasp. He tried to throw me off several times, and with his weight he almost managed it each time, but I continued to squeeze down on his neck until he was finding it hard to breathe.

He looked at me, with venom and loathing in his eyes. I thought that he wasn't going to forfeit, but he finally spoke out in choked breaths.

"I surrender." I let him go and jumped off, moving quickly away from the dwarf who would probably try to kill me the second he got to his feet.

He stood up, fury in his eyes and anger radiating off of him like heat.

"Do not think that this makes you a member of this company. You and your brother are of no use to this quest, and you will never be one of us." He stormed off in the opposite direction of us all, and Dwalin and Balin hurriedly followed after him.

The anger surged through my body, but as the adrenalin wore off, I begun to shake. Picking up my dual blades from the bench, I quickly ducked out of the courtyard on the opposite side that Thorin had stormed out of. Josh and Fili had called out to me, but I ignored them.

I started to run through the corridors, and recognising where I was, quickly made my way down the stone steps towards the hot springs that lay beneath the House of Rivendell. When I reached the large cave-like area, I sat down by the edge of the larger bathing spring, pulling up my slacks to sink my feet and legs in.

Tears ran down my face, mixing with the dirt and sweat that already clung there. All I wanted to do was get into the hot spring and lay in there forever, but if Josh and Fili were still looking for me then I would rather not be naked and without a towel if they came down here.

I sat with my feet in the spring for a long time. It was making me sweat even more, but it felt good against the aching of my muscles and the pain that throbbed through my ribcage and my shoulder.

A voice behind me made me jump half a metre, and almost into the water.

"There you are, _Mahal_, we were so worried." It was Fili, and I turned back to look at the water. I tried to ignore the dwarf, but he wasn't about to give in that easily, unfortunately. He sat down by my side, legs crossed casually in front of him.

"Amelia? Are you alright? How injured are you?" I still refused to answer or look in his direction, and continued to play with the water bubbling beneath my fingertips until he made me look at him. He put a gentle hand to my cheek and turned me to face him, wiping away my tears as he did so.

"I'm fine," I deadpanned, looking at the ground. Tilting my chin upwards, I had nothing to do but look at him. His blue eyes were darker than usual, and it reminded me of the dark blue of the sky in the twilight, just after the sun sets. There was sadness prominent in the depths of them, and I sighed in defeat.

"Ugh, fine, I'm not alright. Your uncle is an asshole and I don't know why he and Dwalin hate us so much. I'm sick of them saying that Josh and I are worthless. We just want to help you guys and find out why we are here in the first place. We want to prove that we can help but it doesn't help that he is such a stubborn dick! Not to mention I got myself hurt in that fight that probably still got us kicked out of the company despite me winning."

I rushed everything out quickly, and then pursed my lips shut in regret at calling Fili's uncle an asshole. I expected him to yell at me or defend his uncle, but he didn't. What he did surprised me. Taking my hands in his, he began to speak.

"Amelia, I will not let him make that decision. I won't tell him what you have told me of how you got here, but I will tell him that I feel as though you are on this quest for a reason, and that I trust Gandalf's judgement. You and your brother need to understand your purpose for being here. You have also been helpful, despite what Thorin believes. You saved Kili's life when neither of us could, and I think that is one reason why he has hard feelings towards you. He feels like it is his responsibility to protect Kili, and in a way it is, but it shouldn't _just_ be up to him."

"But you don't resent me for that, do you?" I asked quietly, worried about what the answer may be.

"No I do not. Do you know why?" When I shook my head, he continued. "Because you saved his life. Despite it being our job to protect him, you were there to do it when we failed and I am in your debt for protecting my brother and my best friend."

He bowed his head towards me, and I was taken aback by his words. He was so genuine and sincere, and I was all of a sudden overwhelmingly glad that I had found a friend in him.

"But what do I do about Thorin? He isn't going to let me or Josh continue with you lot. How can I convince him?" Fili stood up suddenly, pulling me up with him.

"Leave that to me. He is my uncle, and he will listen to me. I will speak to Ori and Bofur also, and ask for their help in convincing Thorin." He started to bound towards the stone stairway, when my words stopped him in his tracks.

"Why are you helping me and Josh? Why does it matter so much to you?" He turned around slowly, looking at me with such intensity that it made me feel super nervous again. Still looking at me, he walked back to where I stood. My stomach flitted anxiously as he put a hand against my cheek.

"You and your brother deserve to be given a chance. You are not so different from Kili and I, and not only do I admire you and the way that you defend and protect Joshua, but.. But I am quite fond of you, Miss Amelia." And with that bombshell and a soft kiss on my forehead, he moved back to the staircase and disappeared.

What. Wait, _what?_ I plonked myself back onto the ground and tried to sieve through the jumble of confusion that were my thoughts. There was hope. There was hope! Fili was going to talk to Thorin, and _oh my god_ Fili admitted to liking me. I think. What does '_being fond of someone'_ actually mean? Feeling overwhelmed by the thoughts swirling through my head, I decided to hop in the bathing spring fully clothed and scrubbed myself and my clothes clean.

After I was finished, I walked back to the room that Arwen had said was mine until I needed it. I was dripping wet, but as soon as I closed the door I took off the wet clothes and changed into one of the dresses (ugh) that was lying atop the bed. I wrung the water out of each piece of my clothes, and laid them to dry on the windowsill where there was still sunlight left. It was still quite warm, and it wasn't taking long for the clothes to dry.

I wasn't going to go out to have dinner with the company. Fuck _that_. There would just be too much awkwardness for me to deal with. I was feeling really hungry after the day's events though. As if on cue, there was a knock on my door. Unsure of whom it was, I moved away from the door and yelled 'come in!'

The door opened and there stood Josh balancing a tray full of different types of food in one hand and a large flagon of something in the other. And when I say full, I mean the tray was piled up until nothing else could possibly fit on there. I smiled at him and relaxed, glad that it wasn't a psychotic dwarf ready to kill me.

"I thought you might be hungry and want some company. Some of the others wanted to check on you, but at the risk of being killed by Thorin, they just piled on lots of food for you. Bombur was adamant that you eat all of it." He sat down on my bed and I joined him, crossing my legs and grabbing for the first thing I saw.

We sat in silence for a while, almost finishing off every piece of meat, cheese, fruit and vegetable there was and sharing the wine between ourselves.

"How angry are they at me?" I asked Josh quietly, and he replied casually, which I wasn't expecting.

"Most of them aren't. Kili, Fili, Ori, Bofur, Bombur and even Balin and Bifur are trying to get Thorin to keep us with the company. Bilbo had no idea what was going on, the poor guy. They seem pretty certain that Thorin can't kick us to the curb. The older dwarves are angrier though. Gloin, Nori, Dori, and even Oin are pretty upset that you talked to Thorin that way. "

"Dwalin and Thorin are absolutely fuming though; I stayed well away from them both. But you kicked his ass, Amelia! You proved that we are more than we look. Well, you are more than you look. Fili said he would find you, so I stayed and showed Gloin my progress with the bow and arrow, and he thought that I was doing well. He agreed with Dwalin though, about needing to be able to beat someone in hand to hand combat. Kili said that he would keep helping me practice though." He grinned at that, but his smile faltered when I replied.

"Well I don't think beating Thorin is going to get me any brownie points with them. Plus, I didn't get out of that without the idiot landing some blows. My ribs and shoulder ache hurt like hell."

"Is there anything I can get you? Maybe one of the Elves can use their magic again?"

"It's okay, Josh. I don't want to run to the Elves for help every time I get hurt. I would need a personal Elf to follow me around forever if that were the case," I half laughed. He smiled and nodded furiously in agreement while he continued to eat the remainder of the food on the tray.

"Thorin, Balin, Bilbo and Gandalf were having a meeting with the Elf King. His name is Elrond, and he seems alright. The Elves don't show a lot of emotion though, do they? Anyway, Bilbo was with Elrond today, that's why he wasn't training with us. He said that he had explored around Rivendell."

"Yeah, it looks like he has fallen in love with the place. Do you think that they will kick Bilbo out of the company for what happened today?" I wondered aloud, worried that I had ruined his chances of continuing. I doubt he would mind though; he was having a rough time being with the company too.

"Amelia, none of us are getting kicked out of the company. Fili was pretty adamant about that." Josh raised an eyebrow and smirked, and I proceeded to spit the mouthful of wine I was trying to drink all over the floor next to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked between fits of coughing.

"Well, he was the one discussing with the other dwarves that aren't angry at us that they need to convince Thorin that we should stay with them." His teasing tone suddenly turned serious, and he frowned at me. "But why did you tell him about where we were from? We should have talked about this before you blurted out the one thing that only a few people should know." He wasn't truly angry, but I got hints of disappointment from him and that hurt.

"I'm sorry.. I'll discuss it with you next time, but he isn't going to tell anyone. He entrusted me with a secret, and I told him one of mine." He sighed, his frown lessening as he exhaled.

"Okay. I trust him too, both him and Kili, but we should talk to each other about this. I don't think that it's a good idea to tell just anyone; both of us should trust the person, like we both trust Bilbo and Gandalf.

"Alright, deal," I said, outstretching my hand. He shook it, and a smile graced his lips.

It had started to become dark, and I begun to doze off while still sitting on the bed talking to Josh. Sometime later, there was a knock at the door and Arwen came in, smiling kindly at the two of us. She must have heard about today's events, because she offered Josh his own room, which he accepted eagerly. He felt a little uncomfortable around Thorin and Dwalin, and felt like we should let them cool off before we talk to them.

"We will talk to them at breakfast, yeah?" I said to Josh, smiling hopefully.

"Yep. I think they will come around Amelia, I have a good feeling about tomorrow." He left to his own room, and Arwen stayed to quickly check on my injuries. I refused any kind of medicine for the bruising, but I felt like she must have done something because I wasn't feeling quite as sore as I fell into the pillows and sheets of the Elvish bed. I drifted to sleep quickly, with a spark of hope in my heart that Josh and I would be able to fix things with Thorin tomorrow.

When I awoke the next morning, the company was gone.


	9. Chapter 9

"Josh! Josh get up!" I shook my brother by the shoulder, trying to wake him up. There was a string of inaudible moans and groans before he actually managed to say something I could understand.

"Unghh, what do you waaant," he complained.

"Get up, Josh. They're gone."

"Who's gone where?" He mumbled, pulling the covers over his head.

"The company, they've all gone. Bilbo, Bofur, Thorin… Fili.. All of them. Get up!" I hit him hard in the shoulder. Finally comprehending my words, he jumped upright from out of the covers.

"They're gone as in they left us?" He exclaimed, hopping out of the bed and throwing on his tunic and shoes.

"I've looked everywhere. All of their things are gone from the courtyard. I… I can't believe it.." And I really couldn't either. I had woken just as the sun had come up, and made my way to the courtyard to meet the company for breakfast. The entire time I had been going over my head what I would say to them, what I would say to Thorin. But when I got there, it was empty.

I _had_ looked everywhere; the bathing springs, the training field, the kitchen, the gardens and courtyards, but I hadn't found a trace of them. Not until I ran into one of the Elves from breakfast the morning before, who told me that they had left through the valley just before the sun rose.

I found Josh's room quickly, needing some kind of reassurance. Some explanation as to why they would leave us behind without a word. Josh knew as little as me, and he was as upset as I was.

"B-but Fili was so confident Thorin wouldn't leave us behind? I don't understand. Bilbo is gone too?" I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I felt like the thin ice I had been tip-toeing on for the past month had just collapsed from under my feet, and I was at risk of drowning in the fear that was beginning to overwhelm me.

Sure, it was hard as hell being with the company, and Thorin despised us, but they were all we knew. We had no other lifeline in this world, nothing else to grip onto and the anxiety was beginning to crawl up through my chest, taking hold of my breath.

"What do we do now? Where do we go?" Josh was still voicing his fears out loud. He had sat back down on the bed, elbows on his knees and running his hands through his hair in anguish. I was trying to get my breathing under control, but it was failing miserably.

The pain of rejection crept throughout my body and began to sting in what felt like physical agony. It felt like I was being crushed under an external pressure that I couldn't see. I sat heavily on the grey stone floor, trying to hold myself together. What else could I do though? We had been abandoned.

_They didn't want us. They never did_. Thoughts flitted across my mind in a cascade of emotional turmoil. _Bofur left you. Bilbo left you. Gandalf left you. Even Fili left you._ I felt sick thinking about Fili in particular. Was everything he had said just a lie until he left? But why would he do that? I understood why Thorin would leave us, but why would the others willingly leave us behind?

I scrunched my eyes closed in an attempt to clear my head. Taking in slow, deep breaths, I allowed myself just enough clarity to think about what to do next.

"Josh, we need to go and find Arwen." I took a few more deep breaths in an attempt to compose myself, and then quickly stood up.

"Why?" He looked at me and I saw in his eyes what I felt myself. Hurt, rejection, fear.

"We need to find out where they went."

"But _why_, Amelia? They _left us_. They don't want us or need us." I didn't know if I could argue with that. We were useless and they didn't want us, it was true. I was about to give up, when I felt in my gut that wasn't the right thing to do. I remembered back to the first night we were in Middle Earth. Bofur had told Josh stories of his home, the very home that they were going to reclaim. That was the day we had lost our own home, metaphorically and quite literally. That was the night Josh sat me down, and as determined as he was, convinced me that we should help the dwarves.

"No, Josh. Most of them may not want us, but they don't know that they need us. Bilbo needs us." Josh looked at me blankly as I spoke, but when I mentioned Bilbo, I saw the spark in his eyes that I was looking for. It was brief, but his determination was still there.

"Come, let's go and find Arwen." We swiftly packed our rucksacks and moved through the halls to find the Elf. After searching for what seemed like forever, we stumbled upon another Elf who showed us to where Arwen was. We meandered through corridors until we came into a large, beautiful garden where she was kneeling in front of an enormous oak tree.

"Arwen, we need your help." I approached the woman, getting straight to the point. We didn't have time to beat around the bush with this. She stood up, finally looking at us. I saw sadness and even pity within her eyes; she already knew.

"Your company have left you behind," She stated, instead of phrasing it as a question. I nodded without a word, desperately trying to hold back the tears that prickled in my eyes.

"What do you ask of me, Lady Amelia?" Her words were kind and genuine; she showed more emotion than any of the other Elves that I had interacted with here, and it was a breath of fresh air to be honest.

"We need to see King Elrond. Can you help us find him?" She smiled softly at me, and replied.

"Of course. I will show you to my father." I was a bit shocked to hear that the King was her father. I guess that meant that she was a princess, which was weird. She didn't act like she was better than us. Unlike Thorin.

Arwen led up a stone staircase, and through many corridors. My mind was a jumble of emotions and thoughts. Is this the right thing to be doing? Should we actually find them? They did leave us for a reason. I had to try and block the thoughts from my mind, and ignored the knot that grew tighter in my stomach with each second that was passing.

We came into a large area; it wasn't really a room because it was so open, but it had a stone table and chairs in the middle. It reminded me of the other courtyards we had found, but I got a strange feeling from the place. It felt like it was important, or powerful.

Looking around, I saw a familiar figure. I just about jumped for joy when I realised it was the old wizard we had grown so fond of.

"Gandalf!" I cried, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. Josh did the same as soon as I let go, and I looked up at him. It seemed that everyone was miserable today; Gandalf's lips were pursed in a tight line and his eyes were burrowed into a frown.

"Miss Amelia, Master Joshua.. You should not still be here. You were supposed to leave with the company.." Through his words I could tell that he was quite surprised, and his frown deepened.

"They left us Gandalf," Josh whispered, his voice cracking in distress. Gandalf's surprise turned into anger, and I saw in the corner of my eye the shadows that begun to grow around him.

"Stubborn, foolish dwarf! The idiocy of Thorin will get himself and those around him killed!" Gandalf began pacing in anger, muttering under his breath about Thorin's stupidity.

"It seems as though you had more faith in this dwarf than what he should be credited for, _Mithrandir_." I turned around to find two tall, absolutely beautiful Elves. The one that spoke was Lord Elrond, the Elf I had seen at dinner a few nights ago. He wore an intricate crown that drew around his forehead and shaped his already sharp-featured face. There were small braids entwined in his dark hair that stretched half way down his long, slender body. He was gorgeous; I felt like he could have been a model in our world.

The other Elf was a woman with long, flowing blonde hair. She also wore a crown, silver and elegant, that gently wrapped around at her forehead. Her dress clung to her body in the right places, but flowed in other spots. She. Was. Incredible. I was becoming a little entranced by the duo, when the blonde Elf turned to look at me and smiled knowingly. Feeling a little embarrassed from staring at the two, I looked at the ground.

"Master Joshua, Miss Amelia; I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting." The blonde spoke in a silky voice that made me look up from the ground back at her, as she moved towards us and bowed slightly.

"I am Lady Galadriel. And you are very far from home." She peered at the both of us in curiosity, and I turned around to glare at Gandalf. He must have told her about where we were from, and that annoyed me a little bit.

_Do not fear, Miss Amelia. Gandalf did not share with me your secrets. I have other ways of collecting information._ I gaped at Galadriel. I could have sworn I heard her talk, but her mouth didn't move at all. She was still smiling at my slyly.

_I have the ability to communicate with others inside their minds. Do not be afraid. _Like _hell_. I was absolutely terrified.

"How are you doing that?" She smiled, and the others looked at me knowingly. All except for Josh, who looked as though he thought I was going mad.

"Elvish magic, my dear child. You have questions to be asked, and we are willing to listen." Both she and Elrond smiled. I guessed from her freaky super mind reading that they both knew a lot about Josh and I, so decided to ask them what had been bugging me ever since we got here.

"How and why did we get here? Into Middle Earth from our world?" I was expecting there to be some great big revelation, but the answer Galadriel was supremely anti-climactic.

"There is an Old Magick present in this world and yours, which has been overlooked by many. Forgotten it may be, but still it lingers in the smallest corners of the unknown." That didn't answer my question at all, and I saw her smile almost humorously when I made it clear in my mind that I thought as much.

"But how did we get here? It could have been anyone that walked along the same path that we did. Why us? Why exactly are we here?" I waved my arms around me in frustration, looking between the two.

"Yes, it could have been anyone. But it was you two in particular. You must ponder on that; whatever power that allowed you access to Middle Earth, brought both of you specifically. There is most certainly a reason, though quite unclear it may be to some."

"What are we meant to do though? What is our bloody reason for ending up here?" I was starting to get upset again, and my voice was rising with each word. It was Lord Elrond that spoke this time.

"I think you have already found your reason for being here, Miss Amelia." I was about to say that I still had no idea what he was talking about, when Galadriel's voice flooded my head.

_The company and their quest._ I frowned at her, seeing the obvious dilemma in that.

"But they left us? They don't care about whether we are with them or not. They don't want us to help them."

"You already know that is untrue, child. Both of you have helped these dwarves through your travels. Do not discredit yourself because another does not see the value in you. You are not useless, and you have much to give them. But it is your choice; you can either help them in their quest, or continue back home." The breath caught in my throat at her words.

"Home? You know a way to get back to our world?" She nodded slightly, before continuing.

"There is one way. It may not be reliable, however. There are few in Middle Earth able to harness the Magick of the Old World. I am one of these few. If it is your wish to go back, then I will help you."

I felt flooded with emotion, like a wave had just crashed over me. There was a way to get back to our world. I could go back to the simplicity of Earth. I could forget about all of this and it will just be a memory, a whisper of rejection and pain that was nothing more than a bad dream.

But did I want it? I felt like a dog that had been running after a car for the past month; I had finally gotten to the car, but what did I actually do with it now?

I thought about the promise that I had made to our mother, to look after and protect Josh. What sort of sister would I be if I didn't protect him? But either world we stayed in, he was going to be in danger. At least back on Earth, I had a better chance of looking after him. I didn't want to take Josh back there, but it seemed like the best idea. We had almost died here, and the very people we thought we trusted had abandoned us. I thought about the company, remembering over the past month.

I remembered back to when we first met Bilbo, and despite being bombarded with thirteen dwarves in his home, he had still made time to listen to me when I was breaking down. He had looked after me, and I felt like he was the closest friend I had ever had. I remembered first being introduced to the dwarves, and how curious some of them were to meet us. I remembered them singing songs and the pranks that Fili and Kili would play on all of us.

I remembered Bofur and his stories of Erebor and the Blue Mountains; I remembered helping Fili through his nightmares and I remembered picking vegetables and fruit with Bombur. I remembered learning about different medicines with Oin; I remembered listening to Ori speak about his parents, who were now stars in the distant sky, and I remembered saving Kili's life.

We had promised to help them on this quest, and despite Thorin's constant tirade of criticism towards us, they had still felt like family to me. The reason their abandonment hurt me so much was because I had begun to care about them. I thought about going home, and what it would mean. _But it wasn't home anymore_, I thought. I guess there was that old saying, 'home is where the heart is.' Yeah, I missed things about our world, but was my heart really there? I had no family or friends there. But here, I had exactly that.

I was caught between two promises though, and in trying to do one I would contradict the other. I had to make a compromise. I remembered my mums face the last time she saw me. It was filled with so much love and kindness. I had always wanted to be as compassionate as she was and I think she would have wanted me to be as well. She would have wanted me to help other people. She wouldn't have wanted me to give up, and she would be so happy that we had finally found people who felt like a family, after so many years without belonging to one.

They did need us though. Even if half of the dwarves didn't think so, I thought about Bilbo. He helped us when we needed it, and I thought about him being alone with the company that he felt like he didn't fit into. He needed us now, and that was all it took for me to make up my mind for good. No more room for doubt.

"Josh, what do you think?" He looked at me, obviously thinking over our opportunity and wrestling in his mind about the enormous decision that would ultimately change our lives for better or worse.

"I feel so betrayed that they left us Amelia. But they are our friends, and we need to try and help. Besides, I know what going back means. I made the decision a long time ago that I would not go back to our world to be abused again, no matter what happened here." The hint of determination I saw in his eyes now dominated his features. He was no longer a scared little boy.

"Thank you for the offer, Galadriel, but we will stay and help our friends." She smiled at me, warmth lighting up her eyes. As I thought about how we were to get back to the company, another question flitted into my mind.

"Why can't we remember what happens next? You've looked into my mind; you know that this world is make-believe where we come from. How is that possible and why have we forgotten?" I had ideas about this, but they were nothing more than speculation.

"As you know, there are ways to travel from one world to the next. However, this does not mean that your world is running in synch with this one; as I said, it is unreliable. Any one individual not sufficiently experienced in the powers of the Old Magick could end up in a time that is a century, a millennia before or after their own time."

"Our current age that you speak of, that was recorded in your world, may have come from one who was able to harness this power to travel between worlds. There are others in Middle Earth, though very, very few, who are able to use this Magick. I imagine you already know the answer to your seeming loss of memory of these records. Those who see into the future have the power to bend the balance of nature to their will, but the balance of nature will not allow just anyone to do that."

"Do not underestimate your strength. You will need it, dear children." Galadriel bowed slightly, and with a small smile playing on her lips, she turned around and disappeared. Elrond promised provisions for both Josh and I, and himself and Arwen excused themselves to collect food and medicines.

Gandalf, Josh and I were left there by ourselves. I stood silently, still trying to absorb everything that the Elves had just said. It was a lot to take in at once, and I was starting to think that feeling overwhelmed was just a normal thing for me now. Gandalf was the first to speak in the absence of Galadriel and Lord Elrond.

"Master Joshua, Miss Amelia. We leave on foot as soon as we collect our provisions. We are to meet the company in the Misty Mountains, as I had arranged with Thorin. There, we will continue on. You must know that this part of our journey will not be easy, and I require the both of you to summon your strength, courage and bravery."

And with that, Gandalf left to collect his own belongings. I looked at Josh, and there was now a mix of determination and nervous anticipation in his expression. We left the courtyard to find the kitchens, where Elrond was working with a number of other Elves to collect food and also medicine for us. After half an hour of collecting the things we needed for the next part of the journey, we were ready to leave.

Arwen met us at the bridge that led out of Rivendell. As we reached her, I saw that she was cradling bundles that were covered in fabric, in her arms. She uncovered the cloth with her free hand to reveal a number of weapons; two of which I recognised as the dual knives I had used the day before.

"Master Joshua; you showed great improvement in the use of a bow in your time here, and I would like to offer this to you as a gift. This bow and the arrows that accompany it were expertly carved by the Elvish wood smiths of Rivendell. May it bring you luck, and aid you in your journey."

"Miss Amelia; these are the twin blades that you used yesterday in the training field. I witnessed how entranced you became by the weapons, and I believe that they now belong to you. May they aid you in your journey and bring you luck."

I hadn't realised Arwen had actually been watching us yesterday. I was almost speechless at her words and the fact that she was giving us these beautiful gifts. I honestly never thought I would say that about a pair of knives, but they were so incredible, and were something that we would surely need on the rest of our journey.

"Thank you so much Arwen. I-I don't know what to say. Just thank you.." Smiling at Josh and I, she gave me an intricately knotted belt in which sheaths were attached to for my weapons. I tied the belt around my waist and put my weapons into their sheaths at either side of my body. She gave Josh some new clothes (which were much bigger than what he was currently wearing), and a leather arm guard to wear as protection while he shot arrows from his bow.

Overwhelmed (again) by how amazing Arwen was, I wrapped by arms around her slender body in a hug. She seemed surprised at first, but after a few seconds she returned the embrace. Josh and Gandalf said goodbye also, and we began our ascent out of Rivendell. I looked behind me every so often, feeling extremely sad to be leaving this peaceful paradise. Despite everything that Josh and I had dealt with in the time we were there, it was a truly beautiful place. I hoped that one day I might be able to come back, and even see Arwen again.

We continued further away, along paths that wound into the mountains around Rivendell. I looked one last time at the spectacular Elvish home, and bid goodbye to it as we rounded the mountain path and it disappeared from view.

* * *

**Hey guys! A bit of a short chapter, but lots of angst and an important decision made by my protagonists. Thank you to wrmauney for your lovely reviews, and thank you so much to my new followers and those who have favourited this story! I have lots of ideas bubbling around in my head, and it is making me very excited. Thank you for your support! Have a great weekend :)**


	10. Chapter 10

Two days and three nights had passed since we left Rivendell. We walked for as long as we could manage each day, though it usually seemed to be either me or Josh who was completely exhausted and needed to rest, and not the old wizard.

The scenery surrounding us changed from beautiful green valleys and cliff faces that were covered in mosses and flowers, to forests and then to sloping rocky paths atop the highest mountains I had ever seen in my life. The further we got away from Rivendell, the less at ease I felt. I remembered Bilbo and how he spoke of the magic that he had felt within the walls of the Elvish home; I assumed that their magic was thinning out as we continued on our path.

Josh and I discussed and speculated a lot about what Galadriel and Elrond had said to us. We had been offered the chance to get back to our world, and we both denied it. Even if I had desperately wanted to go back, I would have stayed in Middle Earth if Josh had decided to stay.

We also wondered about why the company kept Bilbo with them and left us; it wasn't that we didn't believe in him, but we knew Thorin didn't. Gandalf answered that question for us. Apparently Bilbo was still tied to his contract until Thorin and Balin released him from it, and they still needed a burglar. I felt so bad for the hobbit who had confided in me back in Rivendell, telling me that he didn't feel like he was accepted as part of the company.

The further we went, the more sure I felt that I had made the right decision. I felt like going back wouldn't have been as simple as I would have expected. When I thought about it more, I realised I would have had to explain to people back in our world where I had been for over a month (if I had actually been reported missing, that is).

Even though I felt like we had made the right decision, I still felt nervous. I fully expected Thorin to try and make us leave, though I knew Gandalf wouldn't let him do that. It would be a large blow to my determination, but I tried to prepare myself for what I thought Thorin would say.

I felt more anxious about the way Gandalf was acting though. He had some input into our discussions, but he was mostly withdrawn and gazed in all directions around us constantly, as if searching for something within the shadows. I decided to ask him what was wrong on the third morning as we ate portions of fruit and bread for breakfast.

"Gandalf?" I queried, looking across at him as we sat on thick, fallen branches that had started to grow green with moss. He simply hummed in acknowledgment, but didn't look up at me.

"Gandalf, is something wrong?" He finally looked at me, his eyes peering into the depths of my own. I shifted a little uncomfortably under his gaze, but he quickly glanced towards the sky and replied after a little while.

"There is something stirring, Miss Amelia. I can feel it in the air around us." He looked ominously into the surrounding forest. It had begun to thin, as we were now treading up another steep mountain.

"Does it have something to do with Radagast and why he came looking for you the other day?" As always, Josh had mirrored my own thoughts. We both looked at the wizard expectantly, and he sighed at us, furrowing his brows together in a frown.

"Yes, Master Joshua, it does. Though you should not let these matters concern you." He looked away from us again, obviously trying to end the conversation. I, on the other hand, wanted to know what was going on.

"Of course it concerns us Gandalf; it's worrying you and you're a wizard for Christ's sake. What the hell could scare you?" Again he sighed, but he finally answered my question after a few moments in deep thought.

"An evil is awakening within this world, my dear friends. Something that has not been felt for an age, and we must be prepared, for it may be the downfall of us all." And with that, he collected his rucksack and begun walking along a path that lay in the sloping ground.

Suddenly, the idea of going back to our world seemed a lot_ less_ daunting. What sort of evil was Gandalf talking about? I started to wonder if Galadriel's help was a standing offer. _It's too late to turn back now,_ I thought, scolding myself for being such a sook. _Your friends need you._

We continued to travel along the path, until the trees cleared completely. We stopped, looking at the jagged mountains that lay before us. I gulped at the terrifying sight, realising that the rocky path that we were on led straight along the face of the mountain.

"Do we have to go up there?" Josh wondered aloud to Gandalf.

"We will meet Thorin and the company through these paths. Tread carefully, and stay close to each other. The Misty Mountains are treacherous." Gandalf led the way, and after a grim look shared with my brother, we followed after him. The path wasn't too bad at first, but it got harder as we went along as the ground beneath us became looser and more slippery.

As if I thought that was the worst part, I had severely underestimated how high we were going to get. The other mountains we travelled across were fine, because we mostly walked along paths and across plateaus. On this mountain though, we were walking along a narrow ledge that snaked around the mountain face. It felt like a chasm had opened up in the valley below us, swallowing all light that shone close enough.

We travelled through to late afternoon without stopping; Gandalf had become increasingly anxious, and he had refused our pleading to stop for lunch. Even when we finally stopped, we couldn't even sit down to eat our food. The path had become way too narrow, so we quickly scoffed small amounts of fruit and moved on.

I felt like we were going to have to keep walking the entire night; there was no way that we would be able to sleep up here without rolling off the damned edge to our deaths. I was trying to work out how far the fall would be, when something wet dropped onto my nose. I looked above me, and what I saw filled my entire body with dread.

Black and grey storm clouds had gathered above the mountains, threatening a downpour at any moment. I had a moment to wonder if this was what Gandalf had meant by something stirring in the air, before the heavens rained downed upon us.

"Keep moving!" I barely heard Gandalf yell through the deluge. Within moments I was utterly and thoroughly drenched, and the evening light was quickly extinguished. The wet path beneath me began to affect my footing, and I almost took a swan dive over the cliff. The only thing that saved me was the fact that I was clinging onto the rocky mountain beside me for dear life.

We moved slowly, but fortunately came to a larger area on the cliff face just as we heard the roaring of thunder, and were nearly blinded by flashes of lightning. The area Gandalf had moved onto had a jagged rock protruding from above us, and we cowered beneath it away from as much of the rain as we could get.

It didn't make a significant difference, but the fact that we were well away from the hazardous cliff face was a sigh of relief. Josh and I huddled close together and Gandalf was hunched down beside us. He held out his cloak in front of all of us, helping to protect us from the wind and rain.

I silently thanked Elrond's last minute thinking in getting us two cloaks before we left. Both were green, but mine had to be cut shorter to accommodate my short stature; Josh was approximately the height of the elves so he didn't need any modifications.

I shivered under the hood of my cloak, wrapping my arms around my knees in an attempt to keep warm. Even though the rain wasn't freezing cold, the wind made my teeth chatter and fingertips numb. The mountain seemed to shake in the storm, and I prayed that the ledge didn't suddenly collapse beneath us.

We stayed like that for a long time, probably most of the night; the wind roared against the rocks and howled through each crook and crevice in the mountainside. There were many times that the mountain quaked under our feet and I closed my eyes tight, trying to think of anything but the absolutely terrible situation we were in.

Even if we continued on after the rain stopped, the slippery rocks could cause us to fall. I doubted any experienced climber would attempt this feat, even with safety equipment. We remained huddled together, almost like penguins, until the thunder and lightning stopped. The mountain stopped rocking, and even the wind and rain died down.

"Make haste, we must keep moving. We must reach the company." Gandalf quickly hurried back to the ledge, following the precarious path around the mountainside. Josh followed him, and I brought up the rear. I wanted to make sure I was watching my brother at all times in case he needed my help, though I drowned any thoughts of him falling out of my mind. _That's not going to happen._

Despite the risk of falling due to the slippery path, Gandalf didn't slow. In fact, he probably moved faster than he had before and I inwardly cursed the damn wizard. He was going to get us killed! It was just as well that it didn't continue to rain and we managed to get on without injuring ourselves or falling to our deaths.

My hands were getting cut though, from holding on so fiercely to the jagged rocks. I didn't know if the sensation of wet hands was from the rain dripping down the mountain face or blood from my hands that were raw and scratched. The only respite I had was the cool sensation of the rocks I grasped onto; besides that, we continued on.

It felt like hours since we had found refuge under the cliff face, and it probably had been. I was shivering under my wet clothes and my body ached. My shoulder was stiff and my ribs had begun to sting, despite the fact they were mostly healed and I hadn't had any problems with them since Rivendell.

We continued for a while longer, but finally Gandalf came to a slow in front of us. He looked to the sky above us and mountains surrounding us, before moved around a bent in the path. I rounded the corner and found a large area, even bigger than the last ledge. I quickly moved away from the edge, as did Josh, and we moved in closer to Gandalf.

He was still searching around him, a frown etched into his face. Before I could even ask him what was wrong, he moved further across the ledge towards the face of the mountain, and ducking down, he peered into an area that I couldn't quite see.

"Miss Amelia, Master Joshua, move over here quickly. Do not move inside until I inform you that it is okay to do so." He disappeared, and I finally saw what he had looked into; it was a cave opening, only about as tall as I was but actually quite wide. I looked inside to see Gandalf using his staff as a light; quite literally the end of his stick glowed and lit the entire space.

The wizard was close to a far wall when he yelled for us to enter.

"Stand on the rocks close to the walls, and do not step on the floor!" Josh and I both moved in cautiously, worried about what we were going to find. It wasn't what I was expecting, but when I realised what it was my stomach heaved.

There were several rucksacks close to the walls where we were standing, on the rocks that were there. My first thought was '_that's weird, why would anyone leave their things behind'_. My second thought was then '_they wouldn't have left it here by choice', _and my final realisation was _'fuck, they are the dwarves' bags.'_

I moved carefully towards them, treading on the rocks that Gandalf had told us to step on. I opened the one closest to me, looking to see whose rucksack it was. I almost cried when I pulled out Ori's sketchbook. He never went anywhere without it, and I turned to face Gandalf.

"Where are they? What's happened to them?" He was examining the walls surrounding us, carefully feeling each surface with his hands. He glanced at me quickly, and replied in hushed tones.

"They have been taken. This is a goblin trap, Miss Amelia, and we must find their entrance into the mountain to find our company, as they are in grave danger." Goblins, kidnap, danger. _Fuck._ With shaky hands I tucked Ori's sketchpad into my own rucksack, and begun to search the walls around me for some sort of door I supposed. Josh did the same thing from where he was standing, after a few long minutes of searching, Josh spoke.

"Gandalf, this feels like something here. It's not solid like the rest of the cave." Gandalf quickly moved to my brother, feeling the area with his own hands.

"Keen spotting, Master Joshua," he said as he placed the end of his staff to the door. He begun to mutter something under his breath and from what I managed to make out, it wasn't English.

All of a sudden the area of wall at which the two were standing shuddered, and moved to reveal an entrance slightly smaller than the size of a normal door. The wizard turned to us both as I moved closer, and whispered to us.

"You must be quiet, as quiet as you've ever been in your life. We must find and rescue the company. Do not make any foolish moves, and do nothing until I tell you to. Now, follow me." He ducked as he disappeared through the entrance, and Josh and I followed suit.

As soon as we entered, I felt suffocated by the stench that sat stagnant in the air. It smelt old and rotting and dusty, and I had to resist the feeling in the pit of my stomach that told my brain I needed to be sick. We were inside a massive, humungous cave; there were bridges made of wood and rope connecting areas below us, and primitive paths that had been dug into the walls.

We followed one of these paths, moving slowly downwards. There was little light where we were, but Gandalf didn't light his staff to keep us hidden. The whole space was so backwards; while there were bridges and paths built, it didn't have anywhere near as much elegance and ageless beauty as Rivendell. It was like comparing the streets of Venice to a slum in an area that didn't have the money to build anything better.

What scared me most was the fact that it was dead silent; I couldn't hear anything at all. We walked for a long time before I heard anything other than the breathing of Josh and I. At first they sounded like echoes of someone yelling, and the closer we got, the more I missed the silence.

I could hear shrieks and screams, chortling and cackling, horrendous howls and wails that sounded animalistic. The noises bounced off of the walls and sent chills up my spine; I didn't want to get any closer to the source of the terrifying sounds. We had to though, and following closely to Gandalf beat any idea I had of running in the opposite direction and more than likely getting lost in this nightmare.

I remembered then that I had forgotten about my weapons. I pulled out my dual blades, wielding them just how Fili showed me. I also realised that Josh only had his bow and arrows, and mentally kicked myself for not getting him a weapon that he could use in close combat. I guess Dwalin had been right in that aspect.

The next time Gandalf stopped to survey the situation I tapped Josh on the shoulder. He turned around quickly, seemingly expecting something to be wrong by the frightened look he gave me. I gave him a reassuring smile and held out one of my blades, not speaking in the chance that something could hear us.

He looked at the blade, but grinned at me and pulled a long, sharp dagger out of the belt where it was hiding at his back. He nodded at me, a smirk on his lips as I gave him a questioning look. I was sure he mouthed the words '_stole it'_, as he turned back around to follow Gandalf who had begun along the paths again.

We hid in the shadows of the paths that we moved quickly along, as light begun to fill the vast cave. I could hear a large booming voice over the other shrieks that sounded out towards us, before I actually saw who the voice belonged to. When I did see the creature, I wished that I hadn't.

The thing was so huge and round; I could only partially see it from where we were from, but the way its body jiggled around made me feel sick. I looked to see who he was yelling at, and realised that it was company! I could have cried out in happiness, but I contained myself and tried to count them. It was nearly impossible though; there were smaller versions of the big bulging creature skirting around the company.

They were poking and prodding at the dwarves, and it made me so angry. I wanted to help them, but heeding Gandalf's words, I didn't move. I felt Josh tense next to me though, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. The wizard moved in close to us, whispering so only we could hear.

"We must move closer. Stay as near to me as possible, as the goblins are covering the area in anticipation of the Goblin King's orders." If I wasn't freaking out before, I was now. What orders did this fat, round creature plan on giving the other goblins? What was he going to do to our friends? We crept close to the cave walls, still staying within the shadows.

We came so close to the disgusting creatures that I could smell the odour wafting off of them. It was almost enough for me to be sick. They were so hideous as well; their faces were distorted misshaped. I almost missed facing the trolls, after seeing how horrible goblins were.

We were backed against a wall that lay behind the Goblin King, huddled close to Gandalf's side. There was a large wooden platform that connected the ground where we stood to where the Goblin King was now sitting atop a large chair, and where the company were standing.

We were so close, but so far away at the same time. The obnoxious large creature begun singing loudly, receiving an even louder chorus of howls and shrieks from above us.

_Bones will be shattered,  
Necks will be rung!  
You'll be beaten and battered,  
From racks you'll be hung.  
You will lie down here,  
and never be found,  
down in the deep of Goblin Town!_

I was frozen where I stood. They were not only about to be killed, but tortured by these _things_. I looked up at Gandalf. He had his eyes closed and his lips were moving slightly as if he was speaking under his breath. I was about to beg the wizard to do something, when several things happened at once.

There was an ear-piercing screech from where the company was surrounded, and the Goblin King began to roar orders to kill the company just as Gandalf opened his eyes and uttered two words.

"Arm yourselves." The air became thick with shrieks and howls, and Gandalf jumped abruptly from out of the shadows where we had been hidden. I was about to follow after the wizard, but suddenly there was a bright light and then I couldn't see anything.

My vision was blurred and I staggered forward in my loss of sight. Blinking against the intensity of the white light that had filled my vision, I could see clearly after a few moments.

There was silence again, and I saw that every single creature that had stood before us was now lying on the wooden-planked platform in front of Gandalf. I looked next to me, seeing that Josh had just gotten his own sight back. Realising that any second the shit was going to hit the fan, I pulled Josh by the arm and we ran towards the wizard.

Both of us had our weapons drawn, and we reached Gandalf as he was yelling orders to the dwarves who were only just regaining consciousness.

"Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" The dwarves looked dumbfounded, looking between Gandalf, Josh and I with bewildered looks. They quickly begun to move though; yelling, they pushed away the goblins that lay atop them. I didn't have any more time to focus on the dwarves; goblins had begun to charge for Gandalf, and in default me and Josh.

The wizard used his sword and staff to cut down and knock aside the offenders that came at him like ravenous dogs. Again, I felt as though I needed to be sick. I could not only see the impact of steel on flesh, but I could hear it as well. The wails of pain that accompanied each blow made my skin crawl and I fought to bite back the bile rising in my throat.

Everything progressed fast from there, almost in a blur. We quickly moved to the company, who had gathered their weapons and were passing them along to their correct owners. Josh was at my side the entire time, and I was looking in every direction I could to make sure that none of the goblins were aiming for him in particular.

Unfortunately, we must have still been seen as threats, especially after Gandalf's theatrics. A goblin was running towards me to my right, and I almost panicked. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that my little brother was right next to me, and in doing nothing I would get him killed.

The goblin attempted to bring his weapon down on top of my head, but I blocked it with one of the twins, while using the other blade to dig into its stomach. I would never forget that moment; the look of fear on his face and in his eyes, the feel of wielding a weapon as it sliced through skin and muscle and bone, and the absolute horror of taking another living creatures life.

Disgusted with myself, I was only pulled out of the spiralling self-loathing I was feeling by Gandalf's words.

"Follow me. Quick, run!" I had an absurd moment of realisation that the Goblin King had disappeared within the chaos, before Josh and I were running with the company.

We ran in single file across wooden bridges, sprinting as fast as we could away from the shrieks that echoed and bounced off of the walls around us. It took all of a few minutes for the goblins to swarm us again. The dwarves slashed and stabbed at any creature that got near us, and I tried to avoid doing the same unless I _had_ to.

It was much more often than I liked.

A goblin appeared at my side while we were running, swinging a large axe weapon in our direction, attempting to land a blow to anyone it could. I narrowly avoided the end of its weapon, but sliced its neck open so that it didn't hurt any of the dwarves running behind me.

I felt absolutely sickened. Adrenalin pulsed through my body, and I guessed that was the only reason I was still able to continue. All I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball in a warm bed and never emerge. I kept slashed at anything that came too close to us, as tears streaked my face and blood dripped from my blades.

The dwarves in the front of the group managed to get hold of a large wooden pole, and were using it to barrel goblins off the side of the pathway. Goblins continued to jump onto the bridges next to us, giving us but seconds to react and cut them down before we were killed ourselves.

Josh was in front of me, and was luckily able to duck away from blows aimed for him despite being tall and lanky. He struck goblins down with the long dagger he had stolen from Rivendell, whenever the creatures got too close to him.

I began to lose count of how many goblins I had stabbed and sliced and cut, and my arms felt like lead from the physical exertion. The tide of goblins never ended, no matter how fast the company killed them. The dwarves at the front had again found some wooden object to bowl the goblins into the chasm below us. I realised it was a ladder once they laid it down to use as a bridge to get to another platform. The goblins seemed to be cutting down their own bridges to stop us.

I only just made it over without falling into one of the holes, but it was a close call. We ran for ages longer, and came to a platform that looked as though it had come under more sabotage in the goblins attempts to trap us.

We all stopped, standing upon this wooden plank with nowhere to go. That is, until the plank begun to swing away from the goblins in pursuit of us. It was a blur; I had no idea what was going on, and the next thing I heard was 'jump!' and someone pushed me off of the platform.

I felt as though I fell a few metres, and landed on my back. I was quickly picked up by a blonde dwarf with a braided moustache, and I felt relieved that he was okay. That feeling was quickly replaced with fear again as we continued to run, Fili close behind.

It felt like there was no end to this. I didn't know how long I could hold out, emotionally and physically. I was having a hard time coming to terms with what I was doing, and I wanted to try and distance myself as far from my actions as I could while we were still fighting for our lives.

Suddenly, the swarm of goblins seemed to disappear. We came to a wooden platform-type bridge that wasn't covered in goblins or damaged in an attempt to trap us. I saw hope in this situation in the exact moment our only hope of escape was extinguished.

We had run about halfway across when there was a great explosion of wood, and from the floor of the platform erupted the form of the enormous Goblin King. Dori and Gloin were at the front of the group, and hastily ran backwards behind Gandalf when the creature lumbered towards them.

I was quickly pushed into the middle of the company by Bofur and Bifur, as the Goblin King begun to speak.

"You thought you could escape me!" He bellowed, swinging a large mace down on Gandalf, who only narrowly missed the blow. The creature quickly swung his weapon back across at Gandalf, and the wizard just about fell over through trying to avoid the mace. He was caught by the dwarves at the front of the group, who were able to steady him back on his feet.

"What are you going to do now, wizard?" The Goblin cackled, taunting Gandalf. Apparently that was the wrong move to make.

Gandalf used his staff to poke the Goblin King in the eye, and slashed his sword across the creature's enormous stomach. I heaved at the sight of the terrible wound that gave show to layers of fat and muscle beneath the monsters skin. The Goblin cried out in pain, landing heavily on his knees while clutching at his stomach.

Looking at Gandalf with a mix of respect and surprise, he whispered "That would do it," as Gandalf sliced open its large chin that drooped down near its stomach. The Goblin then collapsed on its stomach, causing the platform we were on the shudder and crack under the weight.

Goblins screamed from all around us, as the wooden boards finally collapsed under the pressure and we fell downwards. The company yelled and cried in fear, and I screamed until there was nothing left. We held onto the platform that was under our feet, holding onto each other as well in an attempt to stop any one of us from falling off of the wood that was plummeting downwards through the chasm.

We crashed into other bridges and pathways and platforms alike, not stopping but instead gathering momentum. The chasm seemed to become smaller, as the platform begun to catch on the cave walls, finally slowing us down until we had almost stopped, and then we dropped to solid ground. I was sprawled in amongst the dwarves, but quickly rolled off of them onto the solid floor.

I just about collapsed in relief, and thought it was a miracle that I still had my blades in my hands, and hadn't stabbed myself or any of the company in the process of that fall. The dwarves began to remove themselves from the rubble and debris that they were amongst, when Bofur spoke.

"Well, that could have been worse!" He said almost cheerfully, and as if the universe wanted to prove him wrong, the body of the obese Goblin King fell through the air and landed atop the dwarves that remained amongst the pile of wooden scrap.

The dwarves cried out in pain, and I realised that I couldn't see Josh. I moved around the other side, calling his name and frantically trying to find him amongst the rubble. I was starting to panic, when I found him under some wooden planks, trying to get out from underneath. He hadn't been crushed by the body of the Goblin, and I sighed in relief.

We both realised at the same time that his leg was stuck, however. It was underneath a large wooden pillar that he couldn't move by himself. I sheathed my weapons and tried to get it off of him, but I couldn't lift it high enough for him to move his leg out. All of a sudden, Kili yelled out Gandalf's name, and I glanced upwards to where he was looking.

Above us, hundreds upon hundreds of goblins were swarming down the sides of the chasm towards us.

"There's too many! We can't fight them!" Dwalin yelled, helping Nori from out of the debris.

"Only one thing will save us now; daylight!" Gandalf responded, yelling at the company to move. I was about to yell to one of the dwarves to help me get Josh out, when Thorin moved beside me and planted his hands underneath half of the wooden pillar. He looked at me and without a hint of anger or rage in his eyes, he spoke.

"We lift on three," he said to me, and I quickly gripped the other side of the pillar. He yelled three, and we both lifted, leaving more than enough room for Josh to slide his leg out from underneath. We both helped Josh to his feet, and quickly began to move after the company who were running behind Gandalf through a tunnel.

We all ran, rapidly working our way through a dark tunnel that Gandalf was leading us through. I couldn't see the faces of the company, but I hoped that everyone was there and was alright. After only several minutes, I quite literally began to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

We ran even faster then, realising that we were almost away from the danger. Gandalf stopped, making sure that we all got out first, and we burst into the light of the sun.

We stopped for only a few seconds before we continued running, making our way down a steep slope dotted with large pine trees. Gandalf continued to encourage us forward, and I realised that the sun was beginning to set. We had been in the mountains an entire day, and my legs began to tire in realisation that it had been a full day since we had eaten or slept.

We then came to a slow, as Gandalf begun to count the company, naming each member as he went along.

"Five, six, seven, eight… Bifur, Bofur, that's ten.. Fili, Kili, that's twelve.. and Bombur, Amelia, Joshua.. That makes fifteen.. Where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?" I gaped at Gandalf, and looked all around me. There was the whole company, except for Bilbo.

For the hundredth time today, I felt like I was going to be sick. Bilbo must be back in the mountains, taken by the goblins. I couldn't even think about what they would do to him. He must be terrified, and I started to tear up at the thought of him being in those horrible caves alone.

"Curse the Halfling! Now he's lost?" Dwalin yelled.

"I thought he was with Dori!" exclaimed Gloin, to which Dori protested.

"Don't blame me!"

"But where did you last see him?" Gandalf pleaded to the company, and Nori replied.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us." Maybe he had managed to escape, I prayed. Maybe he was able to get away from the goblins. Even if he did though, he was still stuck in the maze of caves and tunnels in the mountain.

"What happened exactly? Tell me!" The dwarves looked around at each other, before Thorin spoke up.

"I'll tell you what happened.. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again; he is long gone."

I couldn't believe that after everything, Thorin was still discrediting Bilbo. The hobbit had willingly given up all of the things he had felt comfortable with to help the dwarves, and it still wasn't enough for Thorin. I had opened my mouth to say something, but a small voice from behind me spoke first.

"No, he isn't." I spun around to see the blonde haired hobbit standing rather awkwardly near a tree close to us. I had no idea when he got there, but I was overcome by relief and happiness to see him alive and okay. Most of the company mirrored my thoughts by shouting in delight, especially Gandalf.

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Bilbo moved into the presence of the company, and put a hand on Balin's shoulder, who looked overwhelmed with relief at seeing the hobbit.

Kili, Fili and Dwalin began to question Bilbo, wondering how he had gotten past the goblins and out of the mountain. I noticed him become nervous and a bit fidgety, laughing the questions off and not answering. I began to wonder; how did he find his way out of the tunnels?

"Well, why does it matter? He's back!" Gandalf exclaimed, looking at Bilbo suspiciously. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Thorin again decided to speak.

"It matters, and I want to know. Why did you come back?" Thorin's tone of voice had changed; it wasn't accusing or angry, but he sounded truly curious. Bilbo just looked at Thorin, and his whole demeanour changed before my eyes. He stood up a little straighter, and found his voice which was filled with a confidence I hadn't heard before.

"Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong; that's home. And that's why I came back, because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you, but I will help you take it back if I can."

I could have kissed him for finally standing up to Thorin, and for being so brave. Thorin nodded his head in what looked like respect for the hobbit; it was almost like I could feel the change in the air. It felt as though Thorin had finally seen the loyalty that Bilbo had been showing, and he had finally accepted him as one of the company.

I saw each of the dwarves look at Bilbo with expressions of pride, respect and happiness. Even Dwalin looked at the hobbit with a small smile on his face. Bilbo was an incredible being, and I swelled in pride at his courage. The Dwarf-King then turned to Josh and I, his eyes free of the anger that I had seen as an inherit part of Thorin, as his arms or legs were.

"And you two. Why did you come back, even when I left you behind?" I recognised that he was taking sole responsibility for abandoning us, but I didn't know how to sufficiently sum up all of my thoughts and emotions and feelings about why we came back to help them. Luckily, Josh answered for both of us.

"Thorin, our home was taken away from us, just like yours was. You have lost loved ones and we have as well. There is more in common between us than you know. Amelia and I want to help you because what you haven't realised, is that you have become not only our friends, but our family in the time that we have known you." I beamed at my brother in pride; I couldn't have said it more simply or beautifully if I had tried.

Thorin nodded at Josh. He was about to say something to us, but before he managed to get even a word out, a howl sounded from the mountain above us. Déjà vu washed over me in remembrance of when we were in the forest with Radagast, and my blood ran cold.

"Out of the frying pan," Thorin muttered, to which Gandalf finished, fear filling his voice.

"…and into the fire."

* * *

**I hope everyone is having a fantastic week! Thank you to _Perminatly Lost In Thought _for your lovely review, and to my new followers! You guys are so wonderful, and I would love to hear from you :)**


	11. Chapter 11

"Run! Run!" Gandalf yelled. He didn't need to repeat himself a third time; each and every one of us bolted down the sloping mountain. Like it had happened that day across the plateaus, the howling of the Wargs came closer with each second.

It was enough for me to run faster. Even Josh was sprinting, using the slope to move even quicker down the hillside. The sunlight had quickly dissipated, only leaving the light of the moon to guide us through trees and over rocks.

More than once I stumbled, and I would have fallen if it wasn't for one of the dwarves that was at my side to steady me each time. I didn't know who it was, and I didn't have time to figure it out. I stole a glance backwards and realised that three Wargs had reached us.

One attempted to run Nori down, but he quickly struck the beast, either knocking it unconscious or killing it. Another jumped at Thorin just as I saw the third pouncing through the air and landing in the midst of the group, most of which were continuing to run.

The Warg turned around, and found Bilbo standing there with his sword held lamely in front of him. I tried to yell, but it was too late; the Warg jumped at the hobbit, growling through its bared teeth. I thought that it had gotten Bilbo, but I quickly realised that the monster had collapsed with the sword in its head.

Bilbo just stood there, a shocked look plastered on his face as he stared at the crumpled body of the Warg, specifically at the sword that was still protruding from its head. I yelled, trying to break him out of his trance.

"Come on Bilbo!" I cried out to him; he snapped his head towards me, and quickly moved to grab his sword. I began to run, expecting Bilbo to follow behind. Most of the company were running in front of me, though some were still behind.

The dwarves in front of me slowed for some reason, and I was about to cry out to them to keep going, when I saw that we couldn't. We were standing atop a large rocky ledge where there literally wasn't any more mountain to run on. I looked over the edge and instantly regretted it; we were hundreds of metres above the ground.

We were cornered, again. Though this time, there wasn't going to be any secret escape, and there weren't going to be any elves to save us. This was it. I was going to die on some godforsaken mountain as soon as we thought we had gotten ourselves out of danger. I was absolutely and completely terrified.

I searched for anything, any way out of this, when the obvious answer came in the form of Gandalf.

"Up into the trees, climb! Quickly, each of you!"

Duh! I ran to the closest pine tree, and swiftly jumped into the nearest branch. Josh was close behind, but I had to help pull him up so that he was firmly clinging to the thick branch before we started climbing our way further upwards. Despite the dwarves size and their apparent lack of tree-climbing skills, each of them scrambled into the trees through one technique or another; I saw Nori jump atop Dwalin's head and into the trees, and Gloin almost propelled Ori through the air with his strength.

I guessed running for your life gave you the ability to do things you wouldn't be able to do in other circumstances. My blood ran cold when I realised that Bilbo was the only one not in the trees. He was running towards us, and the Wargs were almost at his heels. The breath caught in my throat in seeing him race as fast as his legs would allow, but he quickly jumped up to a branch in the tree closest to him.

Kili was there with a hand outstretched, and pulled him up further through the tree. They only had seconds to spare when the creature jumped, trying to reach Bilbo and Kili. The two were only half a metre away from the snapping jaws of the Warg before they climbed to an even higher branch.

Josh and I moved even further in the trees when we realised that dozens more Wargs appeared and were circling the base of the pines. It took them but moments to figure out a way to try and force us out of the trees; they jumped at the branches, ripping them clean off of the trunks with their sheer body strength. I trembled in fear; this plan had only prolonged our messy fates.

We climbed higher still, reaching the other dwarves that were standing upon the branches closest to the top, but only those that could hold their weight. Ori, Bofur, Dori and Bifur were amongst us, but I could see the others in the trees next to us.

Suddenly, the attack of the Wargs below stopped, and they turned to face the area from which we had run. I looked through the pine needles in an attempt to see what they were looking at. Still unable to perceive what had gotten their attention, I heard Thorin in the tree next to us speak.

"No.. It cannot be.." The way he uttered those few words had me frozen in fear. Thorin sounded almost frightened himself; I couldn't understand what could make him scared, but I finally glimpsed what he was looking at.

There was a creature on top of a large Warg, which was different to the others. The other wolf-like animals had dark brown and black fur, but this one was literally as white as snow. The thing that sat atop it made me feel as though fear was tightening the hold on my lungs, and I was finding it hard to breathe.

It looked like those orc creatures we had encountered before but it was much larger and a lighter colour as well; it was paler… It was pale. Memories rushed into my head from the night Balin had explained to us what had happened to Thorin, himself and Dwalin when they were trying to take back Moria. He had told us about a pale orc that had killed Thorin's grandfather in battle.

This was the monster that had caused Thorin so much pain. This was the monster that Thorin thought was dead up until now. The Pale Orc was looking at the Dwarf-King with almost a smug, superior expression. My heart went out to the leader of our company, but my blood boiled in rage.

The Pale Orc, Azog I think I remember his name being, said something in a foreign language that I couldn't understand. Thorin must have known what it meant, because I saw from the back of the dwarf that his shoulders tensed even further. The orc then roared something else in a foreign language as he swung a large mace above his head.

We were in even more trouble then. The Wargs seemed to have obeyed some order, as they rushed back around the trees. Instead of aiming for branches this time, they were jumping upon and throwing themselves directly at the trunks.

I caught the gaze of Fili just as his tree begun to break at the roots from the pressure of the Wargs attacks; he looked utterly horrified, as his tree fell towards us.

It almost happened in slow motion. The tree fell, the roots bowing under the pressure. It collided with the tree that I was currently clinging for life to, when Fili, Kili, Thorin, Dwalin, Nori, Bilbo and Balin jumped from theirs to ours.

I grasped onto Balin with a free hand, steadying him on the branch that I was standing atop. It took only a few seconds for the Wargs to move their efforts onto our tree, and we began to rock backwards. I heard a number of creaks and cracks, until there was a large snap and our tree was now falling into the one next to us that the rest of the company were on.

We all jumped as far and as quickly as we could, landing onto other branches, before this tree we were on also collapsed under the weight of the company and the pressure of the Wargs attacks. We braced ourselves and jumped into another pine, as the tree we were just in fell off the side of the cliff.

I managed to steady myself in the new tree, thoughts racing through my mind as fast as my heart was now beating. Looking around us, I realised we were all out of trees. That meant that we were also out of luck, and out of time.

I looked at Josh, who was standing on the branch next to me. He looked absolutely frightened; his face was as pale as a sheet and his hands were shaking as he attempted to hold onto a branch just above us.

I reached up and grabbed one of his hands, holding it in between mine and squeezing. He looked to me with complete understanding in his eyes. I tried to portray how sorry I was through my eyes and radiated love through my grip on his hand. There wasn't even a trace of anger or blame in his eyes, though I felt like there should be.

Protecting him was supposed to be my first priority, and I had failed. Even in attempting to help and protect our friends in the company, I had failed that too. Now we were all stuck here, waiting for our death to come by the hand of this orc and his fucking mutts.

I had well and truly stuffed up any chance I had to help any of them. It had all been in vain.

Suddenly, an orange ball of light flew past us and down onto the ground at the feet of the snarling wolves. I didn't even look to see who threw it, because the grass had burst out into flames; the Wargs snapped and yelped in anger.

"Fili!" I heard Gandalf yell from above us, and looking up, I saw balls of orange were being passed between the dwarves. They were lighting the pine cones! They lit dozens upon dozens, casting them down straight at the Wargs as soon as the flames were too much to hold.

I saw many of them hit the Wargs, quickly igniting their dark fur; the howls of pain that came from them were truly horrifying. I tried to push away the terrible things I was feeling to the back of my mind. I couldn't worry about it now, I had to focus.

The dwarves in the tree above and below me yelled and cheered in victory at fending off the Wargs, who were now helpless and unable to get to us without catching themselves on fire. A small smile had begun to play at my lips just as I felt the world tipping from under me.

I glanced at the trunk of the tree, and realised that the fire was moving closer to the pine tree we were currently clinging to. All of the sudden, the roots gave way and the tree was falling off the edge of the cliff.

We all screamed in horror, expecting to fall all the way down to our deaths, but we didn't. The tree had stopped, hanging over the edge at a precarious ninety degree angle. Josh and I clung on for life to the thick branch. I heard yells around me, cries for help, shouts filled with fear, but what could I do?

I hoisted myself up to lie on the tree trunk as I pulled Josh to a position where he was atop the branch instead of dangling from it. We both huddled there, looking at each other with fear in our eyes. Tears begun to brim my eyes, as I realised this was the last time I would spend with Josh. This was the last moment with my baby brother, who I had looked after since I was just a child myself; the brother who had been the one to protect me instead of the other way around; the brother who I would have given up anything for.

"I love you Josh, I always will," I whispered to him, my vision blurry with tears.

"I love you too Amelia. Thank you." It was only a few words, but it conveyed so much in them and I understood exactly what he meant.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw a movement from next to me, closer to the base of the tree. It was Thorin; he stood up atop the trunk, sword in hand and shield in the other. He was looking across the ledge to where I assumed the Pale Orc was.

Oh, _fuck_. Thorin began to move towards the orc, picking up speed until he was running. I was frozen in fear. He was going to get himself killed and there was nothing anyone could do. I heard the cries of the dwarves around me just as I saw Thorin knocked to the ground from the impact of the white Warg that had jumped at him.

I looked on in horror. What could we do? He was going to die. Thorin picked himself up off of the ground just as the Warg turned around and the Pale Orc swung his mace towards the dwarf. The weapon hit Thorin straight in the chest, collecting him and throwing him to the ground once more.

Hearing Fili and Kili broke my heart. They cried out for their Uncle, their voices cracking as they did so. I felt absolutely helpless as the Warg picked Thorin up in between its jaws and threw him to a rock nearby.

I heard the impact, even as far away as I was. My view of where Thorin was lying was suddenly blocked by a small figure standing up on the tree trunk in front of me.

"Bilbo, what are you doing!" I cried, seeing that he held his sword in his hand. He looked towards me quickly, and answered in almost a whisper.

"We must help him." And with that, Bilbo ran towards where Thorin lay. The blood pounded in my ears and my chest felt as though it was going to explode. We couldn't just leave them out there to be slaughtered. We had to help Thorin, and now Bilbo was out there in the middle of the orc pack too. I would be damned if I were to give up on them.

I looked to Josh next to me again, and he nodded. The fear was gone and determination replaced it.

"We need to help Bilbo," he said to me, and that was it. Both of us stood as quickly as we could without losing our balance. I ran towards where Bilbo was already close to the King. Glancing behind me, I saw Josh take his bow from his back and notch an arrow.

Quickly looking back, I faltered slightly when I saw what Bilbo had just done. He had tackled a large orc that had his sword hovering over Thorin's neck seconds earlier. I sprinted as fast as I could in seeing Bilbo and the orc tumble to the ground. He was going to die if I didn't make it.

And I didn't make it in time.

I thought that Bilbo was all but done for, when I saw him stab his sword through the chest of the creature. It stumbled backwards, and the hobbit pushed it over and continued to stab the thing as it screeched and fought on the ground. I reached them just as it stopped moving.

I stood in front of Thorin, my blades now unsheathed. Looking at the Pale Orc in front of us atop his Warg, I felt terrified. Tendrils of fear slithered through my body and I froze as the thing moved closer to us. His expression was that of absolute fury and rage like I had never seen before.

I felt Bilbo next to me then, and we stood side by side, protecting the unmoving body of Thorin from behind us. At that moment though, an arrow shot through the air and hit the pale orc in the shoulder. Looking in absolute surprise, I saw Josh near the tree trunk with another arrow notched, as Fili, Kili and Dwalin ran across the field towards us.

They were yelling in what sounded like Khazdul, and then they attacked. The Pale Orc had been about to attack us, even more so after the arrow struck his shoulder. It was Dwalin who brought his Warhammer down on the Wargs head only just as the creature realised more of the company were fighting back.

I saw Fili and Kili strike other Wargs with their swords, and Josh had moved around the side of the ledge. He was behind the flames that still burned to shoot arrows into the Wargs that were not obscured from view by the dwarves.

A Warg leapt towards us, and even before I could react, Bilbo begun to swing his sword at its face. They moved away, still fighting, while I still stood by Thorin. Making sure that I was safe for at least a few seconds, I turned around to check for Thorin's pulse.

"You better stay alive you idiot," I whispered to him, before turning back. He still had a pulse and it was only weak, but I didn't know what else to do. The others were still fighting. I saw Josh still trying to shoot arrows, only some hitting their marks, when a Warg jumped towards him.

I screamed, preparing to run over to my brother who had frozen in shock, when a dagger flew through the air and lodged itself in the skull of the beast. I looked to who I knew the dagger would have come from. Fili was a few metres away, nodding at Josh before he continued his attack on another Warg.

I had a few seconds to be relieved, when I realised Bilbo had fallen to the ground, and a Warg was about to strike him. The jaws of the monster were about to clamp down on him, when something strange happened.

The wind picked up, blowing the flames around us. I tried to move the hair from my face, and when I did, I gasped in shock. There was a large shape above us, blowing the flames towards the Wargs who quickly caught on fire and ran back through the forest.

Another large shape swooped down and collected one of the slower Wargs that had an orc atop its back, before swiftly throwing them over the side of the cliff. I gaped at the shadowy figures above our heads, as it suddenly registered in my mind what they were.

They were eagles. Giant, enormous eagles with wings the width of a bus. They were swooping down and collecting the Wargs, throwing them off of the cliffs with ease. I saw one swoop down towards me, but I dropped to the ground in an attempt to get away.

I realised too late that the eagle had picked up Thorin instead. I looked up at the bird that was flying away with the King in its claws, shocked and horrified that after all of that, we were just going to be killed by these bloody _birds_.

I looked to the ground below me on the rock where Thorin was lying a few seconds before, and saw a small pool of blood and his wooden shield. I gagged at the sight of so much blood, but I sheathed one of my weapons and quickly picked up his shield.

Looking about me, I saw that the rest of the company that had been fighting were gone. They had literally disappeared, and my stomach filled with such an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty and dread in being alone. I only had a second of that feeling before another eagle swooped down, and before I could duck or run, it grabbed me within its claws.

I screamed until my chest felt like it was about to explode as it flew away and then proceeded to drop me. I was free falling through the air to my death, my eyes scrunched closed when I felt an impact that was much too soft to be the ground.

I opened one of my eyes, wondering maybe if I had died. I quickly realised that I was quite wrong. I was atop a large feathery body, flying through the air hundreds and hundreds of metres above the ground.

Yep, because that was so much better.

I grasped onto the feathers of the large eagle, my blade and Thorin's shield still in hand. I carefully sheathed the weapon while clinging on with my other hand. I didn't want to look around again in fear of just how high I was, but I needed to know where the others were.

It was night now; the moon shone down behind clouds that filled the sky. Glancing around as much as I could without looking down, I saw a number of other eagles. There looked to be a dozen or so, and I could see figures in the claws and on the backs of the birds. I couldn't tell who was who, but it looked as though everyone was there.

They were okay. I was okay. I breathed a sigh of relief, closing my eyes tightly shut in the process. I didn't want to look around again, and I didn't want to move.

I couldn't believe I was on top of an eagle. A real eagle, that was larger than any type of bird I had ever seen or heard about in my life. I was shocked, really, though I should be getting used to this. The amount of times I had seen crazy, weird or downright unbelievable things in the past few months was a common occurrence. It was just inevitable that there would be more things that I simply wouldn't have believed existed while I was back in our world.

Grasping tightly onto the feathers as the wind blew past me, I huddled into the back of the eagle. Now that I was out of danger for the moment, I had a chance to think over the past few days.

I had completely lost track of time in travelling through the mountains and when we were fighting the goblins, and then the orcs and Wargs. It was mostly a blur of events that didn't fit into a timeframe, almost like it was a dream I was recalling I had. I almost wished that I didn't try to recall the memories.

My stomach heaved at remembering that I had killed so many goblins. I couldn't even remember how many it was, and that made it all the more horrendous. They weren't human, but did that matter? I was a murderer. I had spilled someone else's blood.

My mind tried to reason that they were only goblins, and that they were going to kill not only me, but my friends and family. The rest of me didn't see it that way. In my heart, I felt like I had crossed a line that I couldn't come back from. I had done something so irreparable and so final, and my chest started to constrict in realising this.

Even though I was fiercely protective of Josh and would do anything to keep him from harm, I felt like this was something that I was going to have to live with for the rest of my life.

I had protected him though, and he was alive. If I hadn't had killed some of those goblins, then it could have been Josh that was down in those tunnels, bleeding and dead. Instead it was a bunch of creatures that had kidnapped my friends and tried to kill us.

No matter how I tried to justify it though, I still couldn't stop the feeling that was gnawing in my chest, like something was ripping at me from the inside.

Did I regret what I did though? I guessed I didn't in the way that I had defended Josh and helped my friends, but I did know that this wasn't something I was going to accept so easily. I had just taken the lives of so many living beings and despite what they were, I was not going to be able to forgive myself for what I had done.

Tears fell down my cheeks through my closed eyes, and I tried in vain not to sob. Obviously it didn't work, and after a few minutes I had worked myself into a right old panic attack and was finding it hard to breathe.

I tried to move closer against the eagle to try and soothe myself. I had always loved animals; they had a weird habit of being able to calm me down or cheer me up, regardless of if it was someone else's pet cat, or a horse or a frog.

A tiny part of me began to feel proud that I had managed to help, even though it wasn't a significant amount. Those thoughts were quickly squashed by my guilt though, and I tried to focus on the eagle below me.

It took me a long time, hours even, but I managed to calm down enough to take normal breaths without sobbing or hiccupping. I began to think about the faces of those in the company, and that calmed me down further so that I had finally stopped crying.

My friends were okay, that's all that mattered. Bilbo was fine, Ori was fine, Bofur, Balin… They were safe and that's all I should be worrying about, instead of what I had done in that mountain. The ones who had grown to be my family were safe.

Thinking about my friends, I suddenly remembered Thorin. He was barely breathing the last time I had seen him, and I opened my eyes in an attempt to find where he was. I saw that there was some light beginning to glow over the horizon.

I couldn't see where Thorin was, and it made me feel sick. I remembered the pool of blood that had been left from where he had lain, and I hoped that he was still alive. I prayed and prayed that he was still alive.

He wasn't my favourite person in the world, and I didn't agree with him a lot of the time, _and_ he had abandoned us, but there had been a shift in his attitude when Bilbo and Josh had explained why we came back. He was also Kili and Fili's uncle, and I didn't want him to die. Despite his flaws, he didn't deserve it at all.

The rays of morning sunlight were glowing over the horizon now, filling the land with a soft orange light. I risked a look over the shoulder of the eagle, and even though it scared me how high we were; it was beautiful. Utterly extravagant. I could see rivers winding through the green valleys, and the mountains surrounding them stood tall and strong.

I had never seen such an amazing sight in my life.

The eagle I was on began to descend slowly, and I could see a number of eagles in front of us circling a large rocky ledge. I saw the first descend and gently drop a motionless body onto the ledge. It was Thorin. My heart started to pound in my chest again, so loud that I could almost hear it.

Each eagle dropped the dwarves from their claws, or landed so that they could jump off of the backs of them. Finally the eagle I was on landed and I ran my hand across its beautiful back in thanks before I uncoordinatedly jumped down.

I stumbled, but quickly collected myself as I ran over to join the rest of the company who were atop the rock and crowding around Thorin. I saw Gandalf moving his hand across the dwarf's chest, and it seemed as though he was muttering something under his breath again.

At first I was unsure of what he was doing, but I then realised how stupid I was. Gandalf was a wizard; of course he had a few tricks up his sleeve, like we had seen in the mountain. Suddenly, Thorin's eyes snapped open and he breathed in deeply, looking around with an almost bewildered look on his face.

"Where… Where is the Halfling.. Where are.. the humans.." He managed to make out, as Dwalin, Kili and Fili helped him to his feet. He still looked quite unsteady as he rose, leaning heavily on the others.

"They are quite alright," Gandalf replied, sounding as though he was extremely relieved that that was the case.

Thorin shoved Dwalin and Kili away, looking around for someone. I didn't realise he was looking for Josh, Bilbo and I. I took a few steps towards Josh, who was already standing with Bilbo. I quickly gave him a once over to make sure he was okay. Noticing me, and gave me a reassuring smile and looked back to Thorin who moved towards us.

"You," he muttered, looking straight at Bilbo. Thorin looked almost angry, and then he moved his eyes to Josh and I.

"And you two.. What were you doing? You almost got yourselves killed!" I didn't even know what to say. He was glaring at us, and I didn't understand why he was getting angry. We had just tried to save his life?

He moved towards Bilbo, who in turn took a few steps backwards. The hobbit looked as though he was trying to find a way to escape.

"Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild? That you had no place amongst us?" With each word Thorin spoke, Bilbo looked sadder and sadder. His eyes were downcast, and his expression showed such a degree of hurt that it broke my heart.

I couldn't believe why he was saying this to Bilbo, the one who had gone in, by himself, to save Thorin from being beheaded. Bilbo literally saved his life, and Thorin was saying that he still wasn't a part of the company. I was so in shock that I couldn't even speak to defend the hobbit.

Then the unexpected happened.

"I have never been so wrong, in all my life," Thorin spoke with such happiness and relief. He encircled Bilbo in a hug, as the company cheered. After my initial shock at witnessing this, I was filled with happiness myself.

It was such a beautiful moment. Finally, Thorin was accepting Bilbo. It had taken almost two months, but he finally saw the hobbit on the same level as himself. Bilbo himself looked stunned, but his expression melted into sheer relief and he smiled.

Thorin let the hobbit go, and as if I was surprised already, I heard the dwarf apologise.

"I am sorry I doubted you," he said, looking down at the hobbit with a new found look of respect on his face. Bilbo just shrugged.

"I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero, I'm not even a burglar." He gave Gandalf a small knowing smile and the company laughed heartily at him. Even Thorin smiled. He _actually_ smiled, with a spark of joy in his eyes.

He turned to Josh and I, who had moved back from the scene unfolding in front of us. Thorin looked at us, and I felt as though I actually saw guilt in his eyes.

"Miss Amelia, Master Joshua. I did not believe in either of you from the beginning. I did not believe you would be of any use to us, and only slow us down. I was, and am stubborn. Even when you saved my nephews life Miss Amelia, and both of you worked hard to learn how to fight and how to live amongst us, I still abandoned you."

"Even my kin could see how valuable you both have been, yet I refused to see. I am sorry my friends, you did not deserve the treatment that I have given you."

Thorin had not only apologised to us and admitted that he was wrong, but he also moved and hugged us both. I could see the smiles and laughs of the company behind us, especially Fili. His grin was wider than anyone's.

When he released me, I felt as though I needed to say something back. I just hoped I didn't stuff it up.

"I understand why you didn't trust us Thorin. It's not like we have given you any reason to, I mean you still barely know us. In saying that, Josh and I have never felt so at home as we do here. Despite some misunderstandings, we feel like we belong with the company, and we haven't felt as though we have belonged anywhere in so long."

I almost forgot about the shield that I was still holding in my hand. He took it gently in his own when I offered it back to its rightful owner. Smiling warmly at me, he nodded as he placed a hand on my shoulder. It was an incredible moment. If I had felt like we were part of their family before, it felt even better now knowing that Thorin finally accepted us.

Thorin glanced over my shoulder briefly, but what caught his eye changed his expression again. While he still looked happy, his eyes showed longing beyond anything I had ever witnessed. I wondered what could cause him to react like that, when I turned around myself.

There, in the distance, was a mountain that stretched higher upwards than any other mountain I could see. The company moved forward, seeing what we were now looking at. Bilbo stood beside Thorin, looking on in awe. It was spectacular. It was their home.

I could hear near silent gasps from the dwarves. I imagined that they had the same look of longing and happiness on their faces as Thorin.

"Is that… Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo piped up from next to Thorin.

"Erebor," Gandalf replied, almost in wonder himself, "The Lonely Mountain, the last of the great Dwarf Kingdoms of Middle Earth."

"Our home," Thorin sighed, pride filling his voice. The smile never left his face, and his deep blue eyes continued to twinkle. He looked much younger, and I could almost see some of the weight lifting from his shoulders.

I felt a new-found swell of affection towards this man. He had gone through so much in his long life; he had faced death countless times over, had lost his own home and had lost some of his closest family. Yet he was standing here with such pure happiness written on his face as plain as day, in simply looking at his home from a distance.

It made me wonder if you could truly feel happiness in a place that wasn't your original home. From what I could tell, Thorin had never been happy in the lands they made for themselves after the dragon took Erebor.

This place wasn't my home world and I had come here by force; so was it truly my home?

I could have kicked myself for being so stupid. It wasn't about where I came from that mattered. What truly mattered were the people I felt happiest with, and the place that felt like home. Even in the short time I had been here, this felt more like home than our world ever had after our mum died.

I looked to my left to see Josh, Thorin and Bilbo gazing over at the Lonely Mountain in wonder. My brother, my new leader and my best friend. As if on cue, I felt a presence at my side and the contact of a shoulder brushing against mine.

Looking to my right, I saw Fili also gazing at the home that he had never known. His expression was one of absolute joy, and I saw a small amount of moisture build in his blue eyes. I took his hand in my own and squeezed lightly; he looked at me with an expression matching Thorin's. I could finally see the resemblance between the two in that moment.

I smiled at him before looking back at Erebor. We were so far, but we were so close.

"A raven! The birds are returning to the mountain!" Oin called from behind us, as we watched the tiny creature fly through the air.

"That my dear Oin," Gandalf begun, "is a Thrush!" Bilbo looked at Thorin, and the King beneath the Mountain grinned at the hobbit.

"We will take it as a sign. A good omen."

"You're right! I do believe the worst is behind us," Bilbo stated with a contented sigh.

For the first time in a long while, I felt at peace. I forgot about everything that had happened to me in the past few days, the past few months and even throughout my life.

I looked at the future I was about to walk into, and it was beautiful. I ignored the warning bells ringing in the back of mind to hold onto the feeling of content that I was encircled in.

I was with my family, and anything we faced from now on, we faced together.

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**Thank you to my new reviewers, Finduilas88, Shadowsammy and FleurSuoh! You guys are wonderful, and your reviews make my heart melt :D Hello to my new followers as well! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend :)  
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**From now on, I am going to be using the book and the movies as inspiration for certain events and plots, instead of solely the movies. Hopefully it keeps it interesting! **

**As always, I would love to hear from you beautiful people! Please review or feel free to PM me anytime :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**I know that it says in the description, but just a warning. This chapter is a little bit graphic in the way of gore, but it isn't too bad! Just a heads up.**

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All too soon, we had to move again. Thorin's happiness was replaced by a nervousness that was due to Azog's attack. He knew the rage that stormed inside the Pale Orc, and he knew that his old enemy would continue to hunt us down until he found us.

Thorin was still quite weak from the attack despite him being seemingly healed by Gandalf's magic. We walked slowly down from the mountain edge and into the valley below; Fili, Kili and Dwalin were close by his side the entire time, though Thorin shrugged off any attempt of their help.

I thought it was weird that we hadn't stopped though, especially in Thorin's state. I asked Ori why this was and he answered quietly.

"Dwarves are proud and stubborn. Even when sick or injured, a dwarf will continue on until he is to the point of collapse." Ori frowned in obvious dislike at this piece of information, and I felt the same way. I didn't think that Thorin should be sacrificing his health for his ego.

Still we continued for most of the day. I was absolutely starving though. My stomach was cramping badly from lack of food and my whole body ached. It was late afternoon when we stumbled across a large fruit tree. I was overjoyed that despite the somewhat cooler weather, there were still dozens of fruit ripening in the branches.

I had no idea what type of fruit it was, but I basically sprinted to the tree as soon as I saw it. The rest of the company sighed slightly in the appearance of food, but from what I heard, they were still grumbling about the lack of meat.

Motivated by my empty stomach, I quickly climbed the tree and ate one of the red and purple coloured fruits. It was soft and delicious and I ate three more before I began to drop as many as I could reach to the company below me.

Kili decided to climb the tree to help me and though rather uncoordinated, he managed to reach the branch I was on. We continued for a while before he spoke.

"I am going to hunt some rabbit once we set up camp, but this fruit will have to do in the meantime," he sighed, taking a bite from the piece of fruit in his hand.

"Beggars can't be choosers," I teased, grinning at the brunette dwarf. He laughed his agreement, before turning to me in all seriousness.

"It is good that you are with the company again, Miss Amelia. You and your brother were missed." He smiled gingerly at me until I replied.

"Oh, so why is it that you left us behind with the Elves?" I smirked, sending a wink in his direction. He took the bait despite my playful attitude, spitting his mouthful of food everywhere before replying.

"What? No! Miss Amelia, we never wanted to leave you behind! We tried to reason with Uncle, and Fili argued and argued but Thorin refused. We tried.." I instantly regretted teasing him after his extremely guilt-ridden reaction.

"Kili!" I laughed, trying to lighten the situation, "I was joking, calm down. It hurt, but I understand why Thorin did it. It worked out well though, right?" He smiled sheepishly at me, before I saw a glint in his eyes that I recognised too well. I had often seen it just before he and Fili were about to get up to no good.

"Fili seemed awfully angry with Thorin about leaving you and Master Joshua behind. Do you have any idea why that is?" He questioned innocently. I just glared at him, knowing that either way I answered, he had me trapped.

"No," I deadpanned, passing some more fruit down to Josh and Bombur. He pressed on, beginning to chuckle to himself.

"Oh Amelia! Do you not see it? It is all too obvious." He waited for my reaction, obviously wanting me to say aloud what I knew he was thinking.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I shot, before throwing a softer piece of fruit at his annoying head. He almost fell out of the tree when it hit his temple, and he gaped at me in a look of shock and amusement. I thought he was going to throw one back, but he clutched his stomach as he began to roar in laughter.

"No wonder my brother has taken a liking to you!" He continued to laugh as he climbed back through the branches to the ground. I saw Fili look at his brother with a questioning expression, before he glanced up towards where I was sitting.

Ugh, so much for no distractions. Now that Kili had an idea about his brother's feelings, it was going to become obvious to him that I had also taken a liking to Fili. I didn't really know how far my feelings for him extended, because I had tried to play it down and ignore it as much as I could.

I remembered the way he reassured me after my fight with Thorin in Rivendell, and how he listened to me whenever I was feeling worried about Josh. I also remembered the abandonment I had felt when they left us in Rivendell, and how thinking about Fili leaving hurt the most.

Apparently my feelings had grown despite my attempts at trying to compress them. I sighed, realising that this dwarf meant more to me than I had wanted, and I couldn't do anything about it. He had crawled under my skin and made me feel safe and nervous and happy all at once. I suddenly remembered him telling us all that time ago that he was 82 years old.

I had feelings for a man- no, _dwarf_- that was four times my age. Freaking _fantastic_.

I decided to come down from the tree, seeing as there was enough fruit to give us at least some energy until Kili managed to catch some rabbit. I grimaced at the thought of him shooting the poor little animals, but I knew that we needed something substantial to eat.

We moved further into the trees in an attempt to conceal ourselves from anything that lurked in the forest. The main concern of the dwarves was the orcs of course, but according to Gandalf, there were animals and bandits that were in the area. Yep, actual bandits. I was starting to feel like I was in some country and western movie.

Dwalin and Bofur took watch and began to look around the area while we set up camp. Thorin was adamant against lighting a fire, but he relented when Kili came back with several rabbits in his hands. They lit a small fire and began to skin the rabbits to cook.

I gagged and needed to excuse myself from the area while they did their job. Seeing them using their knives against flesh reminded me of being in the Goblin's tunnels and I wanted to keep those memories and the thoughts that came with them far from my mind.

The feeling that I had of happiness at witnessing the dwarves lay their eyes on Erebor again was quickly diminishing though. It's not that I wasn't still relieved and overjoyed at being with the company again, but I was becoming nervous and anxious.

I made a lame excuse about finding some water to bring back from the river that was close by and started through the trees. With the two bowls I had grabbed from my rucksack in my hands, I was guided by the dwindling sunlight that shone through the trees.

We had been following the river that wound through the valley during the day, and we hadn't camped too far away so I was certain I knew the way there and back.

The events of the last few days were continually creeping their way back into my head and my heart. It was getting hard to keep them at bay, and I felt like I might snap again. I hated how guilty I felt about having to kill someone, but I also hated that I was beating myself up over it when I didn't have a choice in what I did.

I sighed, knowing that justifying my actions wasn't going to make myself feel better. Finally coming to the stream, I knelt down at the edge. I realised that I hadn't bathed in days, and especially after everything all I wanted to do was scrub myself spotless. Obviously unable to do this without getting completely naked and risking someone seeing me, I just washed my face instead.

The water felt incredible against my skin. I was covered in sweat and dirt and blood, but I washed as much as I could from the parts of my body that weren't covered by clothes. Feeling the water running through my fingers calmed me down slightly and kept the negative thoughts away.

I was so focused on the water and the way it was relaxing me that I didn't even hear the footsteps of someone approaching behind me until it was too late.

A hand touched my shoulder and I flipped out. I whacked the arm away as I turned around quickly, though I lost my balance from the movement and fell backwards into the water. Luckily for me, the water was only shallow, but I was drenched.

"What the hell!" I glared daggers into the dwarf who was now attempting to stop himself from laughing.

"Miss Amelia, I'm so sorry.." Obviously Fili wasn't actually sorry, as he had to work hard to speak in between his chuckles.

Without saying a word, I held out my hand to him so that he could help me out of the water. He didn't suspect a thing and he took my hand without hesitation; I then stood slightly and I pulled hard on his grip. With my advantage being his ignorance, he had no time to stop himself when he overbalanced and fell into the water next to me.

Then I did laugh. He had fallen face first and become completely saturated in the process. He lifted himself out of the shallow water with his arms and turned to face me, his hair, moustache and beard dripping with water. I swear he looked like a drowned cat. Though not a housecat, but more like a lion or something more beautiful and powerful and _stop, Amelia_.

He frowned at me but when I laughed even harder, he began to chuckle again.

"Well, I guess I did need to clean myself anyway," I said looking down at myself. When I looked back at Fili, I noticed that he was blushing slightly.

"Come, we don't want you to fall ill, do we?" he chided, while he stood and helped me out of the water. When I stood, he didn't let go of my hands straight away, but instead held them in his own. My heart was pounding already, but when I looked into his eyes I was taken aback.

He was looking at me intently, his sky-blue eyes gazing into my own. I honestly had no idea what to do in that moment, so I shifted uncomfortably and looked down at my feet. Gah, feelings and this sort of thing was never my strong suit.

Fili let go of my hands, though rather hesitantly, and moved out of the river. I followed after him, collecting the bowls that were on the ground and quickly filled them with water.

When I stood back up and glanced at Fili, he was looking back at me with an expression mixed between several emotions I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"What's wrong?" I wasn't sure if I had been the cause of his change in behaviour but I somehow felt responsible.

"I.. I'm so sorry Amelia.." He looked down at his feet, and I frowned at his odd behaviour.

"It's not your fault, I shouldn't have freaked out when you touched my shoulder, and it's my own fault I fell into the river." I moved closer to him, trying to understand why he was so upset about that.

"No, not that. I am sorry about leaving you in Rivendell. I tried to speak to Uncle about it but he would not budge. I told you that I would make sure you were with us and I didn't fulfil my words."

Ah, that made more sense. I put the bowls on the ground and took his hands in mine, like he had done before, to try and comfort him. He looked at me curiously, but I realised that he also looked quite guilty. I didn't hold it against him, and I sure as heck wasn't angry about the whole thing. It's not really like he could disobey his own Uncle, let along his King.

"I'm not angry you idiot, I know it wasn't your fault and I know you tried. Thank you though, for trying that is. You don't understand how much you have helped me and Josh since we got here.." I smiled, trying to convince him that it was okay.

With a frown on his face, he was about to speak when I did something brave. Or spontaneous and stupid, depending on what way you looked at it.

Before he could get a single word out, I quickly moved my head towards his and kissed him lightly on the lips, stopping whatever argument he was about to start with.

Quickly moving back, I was able to gauge his reaction. He stared at me in shock for what seemed like forever, his mouth hung open in bewilderment. His cheeks then began turning pink, until he turned almost bright red. I was starting to think I had poisoned him somehow when he started to speak. Or ramble.

"I-um, Amel- I mean, M-miss Amelia, wha-?" I frowned at him, feelings of anger and hurt swelling up inside of me. That was dumb. That was so, so, _so_ dumb. What the hell had gotten into me? I didn't handle this crap well, so what made me think that was going to work out?

With negative emotions broiling around my head and my heart, I made a grab for the bowls at my feet and brushed past Fili back to camp. Why did he make me feel this way? Whenever I was around him I would feel brave as anything one moment, but the next I was a timid little mouse that got emotional every time he moved.

Without looking backwards, I heard the crunching of twigs and leaves behind me until he stopped me with his hands and held me in place in front of him. I didn't want to turn around, but he forced me to and started to speak. I just looked down at my feet, tears brimming in the corners of my eyes.

"Miss Amelia, I am sorry.. It's just.. I.. We dwarves, we are not accustomed to open affection towards another, especially when.. When two are not wed. Even then, it is.. It is the male dwarf that courts the female, not the other way around."

He seemed totally uncomfortable talking about something so serious, which I was so unused to. For the most part, he was playful and cheeky and often flirty. It was my turn to be dumbfounded then, though.

"Wait, what do you mean courting?" I managed to make out after a few awkward seconds.

"What you did.. When you, ah, when you kissed me.. That is a sign that one is courting another, though it is not the females responsibility to begin the courtship.."

Well, that felt like a whole load of sexist bullshit to me, but I thought about it in the context of his traditions and not mine. I had apparently begun to court him, and that was against their rules. Crap. I knew how important their traditions were to them, and I regretted my move even further. I really wished someone would explain this damn Dwarvish stuff to me _before_ I made a fool of myself.

"Well I won't kiss you next time then," I said lamely because I literally didn't know what else to say.

I started to turn away, before he stopped me once more.

"Wait, Amelia.." I turned to face him again before he continued, his voice still nervous. "May I give you something?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him before nodding, and he began to fiddle with something at his wrist. After a few moments, he had taken off a bracelet type piece of jewellery from around his arm.

He looked at me hesitantly before taking one of my wrists in his own hands and tying the leather strap around my arm. When he was finished, I gazed at the bracelet. It was a thick band, about two finger widths wide. On closer inspection I could see patterns and beautiful designs burned into it.

There was a little bit of light left, and I could make out different types of drawings. A few of them looked like symbols of some type, though the main design was what looked to be a man or statue in armour, standing next to a mountain.

It was really gorgeous.

"Thank you… This is really beautiful, Fili.." I looked back at him and he was grinning from ear to ear, his braided moustache almost waggling due to his enthusiasm.

Before I could ask him exactly why he was so happy, he began to lead me back towards camp. We came back to the small clearing in between the trees and saw that most of the dwarves were sitting on the ground talking amongst each other, and some were cooking the rabbits that were now tied to spit made out of sticks.

I noticed that Thorin was sitting by himself though, and I immediately went over to him. He was still recovering, and I assumed that he would need the water more than anyone.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I whispered to him, as he looked up at me. His eyebrows went up in mild surprise to see that my clothes were still a little wet, and then he replied.

"Fine, Miss Amelia." I could tell he had gone back to being Mr Broody, but I tried to ignore it. I offered him the bowl of water, and he took it. He glanced at my wrist as he did so, and I saw him physically tense. I was about to say something, but I was interrupted.

"Thank you," he said abruptly, though his voice didn't sound very grateful at all. I saw him glance over my shoulder at something and narrow his eyes, but I decided I was too tired to decipher what it was he had gotten worked up about. I didn't even feel like eating any of the rabbit, even though I was still hungry.

I moved to where I saw Bilbo, Kili and Josh were sitting, almost huddled together under cloaks, fur coats and a single blanket that Josh had. Everyone else's belongings had been lost in the Goblin Mountain.

Removing my cloak and vest that were wet, I put them close to the fire to dry and moved back to where they sat. I took my own blanket out of my rucksack, hoping that it would be enough to keep me warm during the night. I settled in between the three and the fire so that hopefully the clothes I was still wearing actually dried.

It took me but minutes to fall asleep, but what I didn't realise was that I was dozing off into horrific nightmares.

* * *

I dreamt of my mother. I was with her, but with her at the age I was now and not eight years old. She was wearing a beautiful summer dress and her chocolate brown hair cascaded around her heart shaped face, making her look even more divine. She looked the same as she did the day of her accident.

I was with her, having a picnic in an incredible park filled with pine trees and yellow flowers. It was so serene, and I sat close to my mum, cherishing her presence. I began to ask her a question, but no words would come out.

When I looked up to her in confusion, I saw that my mum had disappeared, and in her place was the Goblin King.

I wanted to scream but nothing came out. Scrambling away from the creature, I witnessed its stomach open up in front of me. I tried to stand up and run, but more goblins grabbed me and threw me down, hitting me and biting me.

I couldn't do anything; I couldn't see anything but the bodies of hundreds of goblins pinning me down. My breath was coming in short and sharp as I was suffocating, drowning..

All of a sudden, the weight was lifted off of me. My eyes were closed but I wasn't being overwhelmed by the pressure of the creatures anymore. When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw that the creatures were still there. But they were all dead.

Bodies were strewn around me, blood covering everything. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. How could I get away from this horror?

"Amelia," a strained voice said from behind me. I recognised who it belonged to, but it sounded so different, so foreign to my ears. I turned around slowly to not only see Josh, but Bilbo, Fili, Kili and Ori as well.

Josh spoke again, his voice strangled and accusing.

"Why didn't you save us?" He spoke, his eyes looking into mine but not seeing. The others chimed in then, the same dead look on their pale faces.

"Why couldn't you save us?"

"You promised to protect your brother."

"You promised to protect my brother."

"Why did you let us die?"

Suddenly the rest of the company appeared, standing still and staring into nothing. Even Gandalf was there, his usually wise eyes blank and unseeing. I scrambled through the corpses on the floor trying to reach them but no matter how fast I tried to get to them, they never got closer than a few metres away.

My eyes were blurry with tears and I was sobbing so hard that my chest had begun to ache. When I looked back at them, I tried to scream but I couldn't make a noise.

Blood was dripping from each of their eyes, their mouths, their ears. I tried to fight my way through the bodies that were around me, but no matter how much I clawed and grasped, I couldn't reach them. I couldn't breathe anymore; my lungs were exploding with pain. Then they began to call my name.

"Amelia.. Amelia.." Each of them whispered, looking down at me with sad, dead eyes.

"Amelia.." I fought, I fought so hard to get away from the death that I was amongst, but I couldn't. I couldn't speak, I couldn't scream, I could only cry and wish for it to stop.

"Amelia!"

I jolted upright, pushing away whoever was grasping onto me. Unable to find my voice, I tried to scramble away but their hold was too tight. I was sobbing, tears streaming past my unopened eyes and down my cheeks. I couldn't breathe.

"Amelia, it's me, it's Fili! You are safe, look at me!" The voice said in a hushed whisper close to my face. It took me a few seconds to stop my struggling and realise that the voice was Fili's, the real one, and not the one I had just seen. I sucked in a deep breath and opened my eyes, worried that I was going to see the pale and bleeding face of my friend.

I blinked away the tears that were blurring my vision, to see Fili's face just inches from mine. Looking away from his worried expression, I saw that we were still in the forest. The rest of the company were sleeping around us, and the fire was out but the embers were still glowing. It wasn't real. It was just a nightmare.

He released his grip on me when I started to sob again. That was too real though, too horrific. I felt sick to the stomach and my heart felt like it was breaking in two. Every time I blinked I could see the dead faces of my brother and of my friends. Why was this happening to me?

Fili let me go completely then, and I snapped my head upwards to see where he was going. To my relief, he wasn't leaving. He turned his body to sit next to me, quickly wrapping me in his arms. While we were around the same height, I was much smaller than he was and was effectively enveloped in his large arms.

Trying to forget everything that I had seen in my nightmare, I focused on my breathing. It didn't work at first, and I was still sobbing like a little child, but I began to breathe in the smell of Fili. He smelt of fur and leather and something else that made it uniquely him. I sighed, immersing myself in his scent and huddled closer into his chest.

He started to stroke my hair, pulling some of the strands away from my damp forehead. Then he did something that I had heard him do before. He began to hum a tune unknown to my ears, but it was soothing nonetheless. Pushing the memories and emotions of my nightmare and the goblins out of my mind, I filled it instead with Fili.

The tune lasted a long time, and by the time he finished I was close to dozing off again. I was brought away from the edge of unconsciousness when Fili moved his head from next to mine and kissed my forehead lightly.

I opened my eyes and glanced up at him curiously. First it was '_no_, no public displays of affection', then the next minute it was 'okay I'm going to do it anyway.' It was seriously confusing the heck out of me.

"Why is it that you are allowed to kiss me, but when I do it you get all flustered and embarrassed and say that it's against your traditions?"

Of course his cheeks dusted pink at this question and he looked away nervously.

"Like I said, it is the male to begin courting and not the female.."

"I…" I started, but then I stopped, realising what he meant. Oh, holy shit. Did he-_was he?_ Oh wow, he was. He had begun to court me. That sounded so weird and traditional and foreign, but he had kissed me several times now, which meant 'courtship.' Ugh, what a strange word for it. But seriously, _what the hell_. I tried to speak again, once my head had stopped spinning.

"So… Does that mean that you're _courting_ me?" I said, putting emphasis on the word. He seemed to become a little uncomfortable at the way I asked him, and he relaxed his grip around me slightly.

"When.. When I offered you my bracelet and you accepted, that is the way we formally ask to begin courtship.. Then later, a section of hair is braided identically in both parties, to signify the pairing and the sacredness of tradition. Is it not done like this in your world?" He asked nervously.

Oh, that cheeky bugger. He had asked me for my permission without me even realising. I frowned at this cunning way method of asking someone out, realising again that this world was _way_ different than ours.

"No, you ask someone if they want to date you, and if they say yes then you might date for a while before you give them a ring and ask them to marry you. A lot of people don't even get married at all. And we don't do the braiding thing." That he frowned at.

"You give the present after you've begun to court, instead of before?" He asked curiously. "And you do not braid your partners hair? What an odd world you come from, Miss Amelia."

He made a disgusted face for emphasis and I hit him hard on the shoulder I could reach.

"Oi! What was that for?" He exclaimed in a whisper.

"That's for teasing my world and for basically asking me to date you without me even realising." He was about to argue with me, when his expression changed to show almost anxiety and worry.

"Do you not wish for me to court you?" He whispered. His voice was deflated and disappointed; it was almost a slap in the face to hear the usually confident and self-assured Fili reply with those emotions filled in his voice.

I thought about it for a few minutes. It wasn't that I didn't like him; I mean I really, _really _did. It had just put me out that there was this whole rulebook about how to act and what to do. In our world, it was nothing like that. You would just make it up as you went along. Well, that's what I gathered from the only relationship I'd ever had. Though maybe that's why it only lasted a few months, because neither of us knew what we were doing or what we wanted.

Looking into Fili's eyes, I swore I saw more than disappointment in them. He looked almost sad. I didn't realise that my 'rejection' would upset him so much. I mean, he was a really attractive guy, and I wasn't really much. I'm sure he could find some dwarf chicks that he liked better.

"It's not that I don't want you to, it's just that it is strange to me. We don't do that in our world, it's more casual there. And why me anyway?" When he looked at me in confusion, I continued.

"Why would you want to be with me? I bet you have heaps of dwarf ladies that are lining up to be with you." He just about choked when I said that, looking at me in bewilderment.

"Amelia.. It doesn't work like that.. There are not many Dwarven women besides. More to the point, I enjoy your company. You are loyal and brave, like a true dwarf, and you have fought to protect me and my family. Your stubbornness is also a quality that is particularly Dwarven." He winked at me then, giving me a small smirk.

"Oh.." I said lamely, before I looked down at my hands. What did I even say to that? I remembered about my bracelet, and the reaction that Thorin had in seeing it.

"Fili, Thorin saw the bracelet you gave me and didn't seem impressed. Did you break one of your traditions?" I joked with him, but he grew tense.

"Thorin… Thorin is unhappy because he thinks that it will be cause of distraction in the quest, and it is a tradition that must be approved and blessed by an elder." I assumed that they must have talked when I went to sleep, and I sighed.

I was going to be in Thorin's bad books, _again_.

When I didn't say anything, he continued to speak.

"Uncle just wants me to take responsibility. He has been grooming me as heir for many years. It is not a bad thing, though he often expects me to act as a leader. I have a duty, but I am so still so young." He sighed, releasing the tension that had built up in his body. It was as though he had been physically freed of some of the weight he had been carrying.

"I know how you feel.. I've basically been the mother and father to Josh since I was eight years old. It's hard having these responsibilities so young." I smiled sadly at him, understanding exactly how he felt. After a few minutes he replied.

"You should sleep for a while longer. I do not know what your nightmare was about, but you look exhausted. I'll stay by you while you sleep, no harm will come to you. I pinky swear."

He held out his pinky, and I took it in my own. I untangled myself from his arms that were still wrapped around me, but my courage (or stupidity) got the better of me again. Before lying down on the ground, I kissed Fili lightly on the cheek, just above his beard. This time though, instead of getting embarrassed or fidgety, he turned towards me and held a cupped hand to my cheek.

"I know I am irresistible, Miss Amelia, but you must sleep." He winked and grinned widely at me. I relaxed, feeling reassured that he was back to his cheeky self.

"Watch out, your ego is showing," I mumbled as I lied down and curled up in my blanket. He chuckled, and I heard him shuffle to lie down next to me. He wasn't close enough to touch, but I could feel the heat radiating off of him and his scent still lingered on my own skin.

With the memories of my nightmare locked in a dark, distant corner of my mind, I drifted away into a now peace-filled sleep.

* * *

**Hello again :) I was a bit worried that this chapter was too Fili/Amelia orientated, so I had a few friends that are following the story read it and give me feedback. All in all they were happy with how it played out, so that makes me happy :) I wasn't planning the chapter to be like this, but I did want to explore the feelings that the two have for each other in more depth! **

**Please follow/favourite/review! And thank you to those that have already done so, you are great :) I may not get another chapter up til next week, as I am going to Oz Comic Con this weekend! If anyone is there on Sunday, I shall be cosplaying as Tauriel so come and say hi :D**

**Again, thank you all for your support. You are all fantastic. :)**


	13. Chapter 13

I had woken up the next morning after everyone else had already been awake for some time, and had gotten themselves organised for the day ahead. It wasn't like they had many belongings though, but by the arguments I heard I assumed they were trying to plan what we were going to do about our lack of food, equipment and energy.

Despite everyone already being awake, no one had attempted to wake me purposely; I had a small suspicion that Fili had something to do with that to be honest. I lazily stretched my aching body and sat upright, packing away my blanket into my rucksack. I tied my vest around my torso and my cloak over my shoulders, feeling only vaguely happy that they were now completely dry.

All in all, I was feeling emotionally and physically drained. The thought of walking the entire day on little sleep and without much food made me feel pretty miserable. Most of the company seemed to agree, if the grumbles and groans were anything to go by.

I began to listen in particular to Oin, who had trod over to Gandalf and was beginning to speak unhappily with him.

"Gandalf, we must find somewhere safe to rest!" I heard Oin exclaim to the wizard. Gandalf just looked at the dwarf expectantly before he continued.

"Thorin is still weak," he said in almost a whisper, "I do not have any of my ointments left to treat his superficial wounds, nor a cauldron to boil any herbs or plants, not after those blasted Goblins! The rest of the company are exhausted also!"

Oin seemed completely frustrated by his lack of medicine and his inability to treat Thorin. It didn't completely surprise me; when he had been teaching Bilbo and I about different plants that could be used, he had seemed very serious about the importance of them.

"I know of a, er, a man, in this area that may help us. It isn't more than a day's walk, though I do not feel as though he would appreciate many guests.." Gandalf trailed off, looking past Oin as if he was deep in thought.

"Mister Gandalf, Thorin needs the help, though he is much too stubborn to ask." Gandalf simply nodded, before standing and addressing the company, though Thorin in particular.

"There is a man, a friend of mine, who lives in these areas. He will be able to provide us with shelter, food and items we shall need for the rest of our journey. If we leave now, we will reach his home by nightfall."

I realised when I heard the reactions of the company why Gandalf told everyone at once. The entire company sighed in relief, nodded and smiled at the news, except for Thorin. He frowned darkly at Gandalf, though didn't argue, as he would have had to argue with the rest of us about going. Food and safe shelter sounded damn good to all of us.

We collected the little belongings we had, and set off without a proper breakfast. We still had lots of fruit left from the night before, but most of the company weren't satisfied. Again, something about the lack of meat.

The exhaustion I was feeling did nothing but intensify as we walked. My thoughts kept wandering back to the nightmares I had and what they meant. I tried to think about it in the context of the study I had done in my first year of university, but my mind was foggy.

I caressed the bracelet around my wrist absentmindedly as we walked. The piece of leather was surprisingly the little bit of light that was shining through the darkness that seemed to shroud me. Fili had given this to me as a question in which I had accepted and unknowingly answered his ask of courtship with a yes.

It scared me a little bit. Scratch that, it scared me a shit load. What should I expect? I didn't know about any of their traditions and I had already done things wrong. But they had already accepted me, as well as Josh, knowing how different and ill-informed we were. Hopefully they would continue to be patient with us, though I think Thorin would have something to say to me about the whole thing.

My mind wandered back to images of home. I hadn't given it much thought since we left Rivendell, after we decided to stay in Middle Earth, but it suddenly popped into my mind. I had a feeling that it was due to seeing our mum in my dream last night, but I quickly pushed those images aside. That wasn't something I wanted to think of ever again.

Our world didn't feel like home at all anymore though, and I didn't miss it. Was that weird? Was that normal? I felt happier here, which made me feel sick to the core. I felt better in a place where I had witnessed murder, almost been killed, and murdered other living creatures with my own hands.

Who was I becoming? I wasn't the same person I was back in our world. Despite having the courage to stand up to our father back there, I was mostly a shy person. Where everyone at university was interested in going out and drinking, I would rather go on a hike or to my martial arts lessons. I didn't make any real friends there.

I had become very introverted when I was eight for obvious reasons, and Josh was the only person I felt comfortable around or opened myself up to. It was weird that immediately after being in Middle Earth, I had opened up to people more than I had (besides Josh) in over a decade.

Bilbo, the dwarves and Gandalf just made me feel comfortable instantly. I didn't even need to force myself to trust them, I just had. _Wow_. I realised I had trusted a bunch of strangers in a random place that shouldn't even be real, without barely a question as to who they were. _That could have ended up much worse._

The air caught in my throat in my sudden reality check. It was lucky for Josh and I that they weren't psychotic serial killers or something. It felt like the whole situation was a dream (or a nightmare), but I knew better than that. I had gone through enough to know that this was real despite the absurdity and ridiculousness of it all.

I had been walking at the back of the group when I realised that Ori and Josh had slowed a little to walk with me. They looked at me nervously, but I just smiled back. I didn't want them to be worried. I glanced quickly at Ori and saw that he looked as exhausted as I felt.

God, I was an _idiot_. He wasn't used to any of this sort of stuff either, because he was just a scholar and not a warrior. I didn't realise that he was probably feeling as crappy as me and as Josh as well. Josh didn't look quite so bad, but he wasn't his usual cheerful self.

"Hey Ori, how are you feeling?" He smiled, but the motion didn't reach his eyes. He looked almost miserable.

"What's wrong? You can tell us," I said to him, hoping that he would open up like he had done before. He sighed and replied after a few moments, his usually young and innocent voice sounded much, _much_ older. I wasn't the only one that those Goblin tunnels and the Orcs had changed.

"I thought.. I thought we were going to die, Amelia. I was so worried for Nori and Dori.. It was horrible. I will never forget that feeling for as long as I live." I didn't even know what to say. He was too young to have to deal with this, and to worry about the lives of his family. It seemed to be a reoccurring theme within this company, the constant anxiety they held for the protection of one another.

I just took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze instead. Josh put an arm around Ori's shoulder in an attempt to reassure him, but his mouth was set in a grim line. After wracking my brain to try and think of a way to cheer him up, I realised that the answer was staring me in the face.

I quickly took off my backpack, and while still walking, untied it and carefully pulled out Ori's sketch book. When I heard the gasp of the dwarf next to me, I looked up and smiled. Ori's eyes were filled with happiness and I swear I saw him begin to tear up.

"Amelia… How did you get this?" He spoke in barely a whisper, his eyes not straying from the book as he took it tenderly in his hands.

"When we found your stuff in the cave in the mountains, I took it from your bag. I couldn't bear to have your drawings lost, they are so amazing.. I didn't grab any of your pencils though," I began to mumble apologies about not grabbing any more of his things when I was encircled in Ori's arms.

"Thank you so much, Miss Amelia. _Dolzekh Menu." _We stopped walking as he held me tight in his embrace. The feeling of being able to help him made the pressure that was weighing down on my chest release significantly. Ori had become such a close friend, almost like a second brother since being here, and that I had been able to cheer him up made me feel good.

He let me go and we continued after the group, catching up quickly as they were not walking at a fast pace.

"Oh, and Amelia," Ori said timidly, snapping me from my thoughts. "I always carry several pencils in my coat just in case I need them." He pulled out a handful of the charcoal looking drawing instruments and smiled at me.

I grinned back at the dwarf. His eyes were full of happiness once more and it made _me_ feel happy for quite a while. We continued to walk for a long time and I felt warm knowing that I had done something good. Maybe I was still a good person regardless of what I had done in the Mountain?

As soon as my thoughts wandered back to the Goblin Tunnels, the pressure returned to my chest, crushing down on me once again. It felt as though I was beginning to have an anxiety attack, and I struggled to control my breathing. I didn't want my mind to think back on the events of the last few days, but it was hard when the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach reminded me of the horrific actions that I had taken.

The only thing that kept me from falling apart completely was Josh. He had moved so that he was walking on my other side, and took my hand in his. When I looked at him, I felt like he needed the comfort just as much as I did. I could see the pain and sadness in his eyes, just as I felt them myself. It was like we could be two halves to one person with how similarly we reacted to situations.

Josh was my anchor at the very moment, though the entire company were keeping me from melting down to be completely honest. The very people that I had killed for were the people that were going to get me through this. Like I had realised in Rivendell, I was realising again that I needed these people like they were my life raft after capsizing in the ocean.

We continued on for the rest of the day without a rest, and my dark thoughts didn't stop either. I didn't leave Josh's side the entire time, though we didn't say a word. The company of the other was enough to keep both of us stable for the moment.

It was mid-afternoon when we heard howls echoing in the distance behind us. My blood ran cold yet again in reaction to the sounds, and it took but a second for Gandalf to usher us forward into a run. _Not again, oh please not again_, I pleaded inside my head, hoping whatever power in this universe wouldn't let this happen to us. We had only just gotten away last time, and the physical and emotional toll that the last encounter had was still affecting all of us.

We ran quickly but quietly, obeying Gandalf's gestures to be as silent as possible. I felt like my heart would give us away though, with how loud it was pounding in my ears. My legs were starting to falter, giving way to the lack of rest and food. I stumbled so many times but managed to keep up with the rest of the company.

Suddenly, we burst out of the forest and onto a plateau. The familiarity of the scene made the bile rise in my throat, and I tried my hardest to swallow it down. It was as though I could feel the dagger piercing my shoulder again, and the memory of the pain made me feel sick to the stomach. We continued to run across the flatland, when something like a building began to come into view in front of us. As we ran closer, I could make out a giant fence surrounding a huge wooden house. After that I didn't have time to appreciate the fine detail.

From behind us, I heard a tremendous roar and a number of smaller howls and shrieks. Stupidly, I glanced behind me to try and see what had happened. Again, I say stupidly. I could see a number of Wargs with Orcs atop them, attempting to run after us but being stopped by an enormous figure. The creature was on all fours, swiping one of its arms at the Wargs and knocking them aside with ease. The shrieks I could hear were from the Orcs, and they sounded rather pissed off.

That was when I tripped over god knows what, and ended up landing face-first on the dirt ground.

My mind was blurry and I couldn't understand what was going on. I could only feel the hard earth beneath my body and hear a blur of noises from behind me. Finally after what felt like a life-time, my eyes focused on what was happening around me. The company hadn't realised that I had fallen, and I staggered to my feet and continued to run as fast as I could. It was a poor effort, but I managed to catch up to the group as they ran through the giant wooden fence and towards the large house.

My head throbbed with the pain of falling over and I only vaguely saw Dwalin and Gloin pushing open a large door as we piled inside. I could still hear roars and shrieks from a distance away, but I couldn't force myself to care. I moved to the closest wall and let my legs collapse underneath me from exhaustion.

I could hear the company arguing amongst each other and with Gandalf, but I couldn't focus on what they were saying. My body seemed to be shutting down and I couldn't fight it. It felt as though I was going into shock. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing down in an attempt to calm myself.

Safe to say that wasn't working.

It was only when I heard the arguing stop that I opened my eyes again. Most of the company had dispersed, but that wasn't what I noticed first. It was Fili's face inches away from mine that caught my attention and scared the heck out of me.

"What are you doing?" I said after I just about jumped out of my skin, glaring at the blonde dwarf. He looked at me with concern in his eyes and a frown present on his features, as he observed my face.

"What happened to your face, Amelia? You have scratches across your check." He held his hand up in what looked to be an attempt at brushing his fingers along my cheek line, but stopped as he quickly glanced backwards to see Thorin glaring at him.

He lowered his glaze and muttered something incomprehensible, before looking back at me and then standing abruptly. I followed his movements with my eyes, as he went and spoke to Oin and they both began to walk back over to me. In this time Josh had realised that I was hurt and quickly came over to sit next to me, trying to ask me questions that I simply nodded to without truly hearing.

As Fili passed by Thorin, the King stopped him and said something which I could not hear. Fili just glared at his Uncle and then shrugged out of his grip, whispering something in reply and walking back over to where Oin was currently looking over my wounds.

I really didn't want them to look after me or check on the scratches, because I knew it wasn't anything serious. The looks that they were giving me made me question that though. They were looking at me as though there was something seriously wrong, and I couldn't understand how a small fall could do much damage. Maybe I hit my head badly? I had been hurt worse before though. I didn't understand.

"Amelia, what's wrong? Answer me?" I zoned into Josh's voice from next to me, as he had begun to shake my arm in an attempt to make me answer him.

"What do you mean? I'm fine," I replied, but even my voice sounded foreign to my ears. What was wrong with me? Who was I?

"No you're not, something is wrong. I can feel it. Please talk to me?" I glanced back at Josh, and he looked so frightened. He looked like the little boy he used to be, and it made my heart break in two. What could I say to him though? I felt like the darkness inside me was crawling into my heart, my soul, and devouring me from within. I was a murderer and I couldn't bear the guilt that I felt from it.

I didn't answer, but Josh looked at Fili and Oin questioningly instead. It was Fili that answered reluctantly.

"Amelia has.. She has been having nightmares since the Misty Mountains and the Goblins.." He trailed off his words when my head snapped upwards and I glared at him. Why did he tell them about my nightmares? I hadn't told anyone about the nightmares that he had suffered from for weeks, but he instantly told them about mine.

He seemed to understand what my eyes conveyed as I stared at him, because he spoke directly to me then.

"You cannot hide them, they are quite obviously terrible nightmares and you need our help to get through them. You know that." After a few long and awkward moments of me glaring into his gaze, I sighed. He was right. I needed them, and it wasn't going to help me to keep it all hidden inside. Look at the damage it had done to me already. I was questioning the very foundations of who I thought I was, and I needed the help of the company. Maybe they could help me heal.

"Miss Amelia, I must tend to your wounds. They are only shallow and small, but they could get infected. Let me find some warm water to wash the dirt away." With that, Oin hurried away to speak to Gandalf. I closed my eyes again, trying to compose myself and get my erratic breathing under control.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Fili and Josh, who were still sitting on either side facing me. "I just… The past few days.. It's so much to take in.." I opened my eyes again and both were nodding in understanding.

"What we had to do in the Goblin Tunnels and when we were facing the Orcs.. We had to do it Amelia, we didn't have a choice. If we didn't do it then we could be dead and some of the rest of the company could be dead too.." Josh had grabbed my hand as he spoke, struggling to find the right words as his voice faltered and shook.

"Neither of you can blame yourselves for what you did to protect us. You were brave and strong, and defended the company. You helped protect those who see you both as their own kin." Fili spoke without conviction, looking at us almost in pride. I didn't understand how he could be so cavalier about death and murder, though I guess it was a part of his world and not ours.

I did believe that we did the right thing in a sense; I would have done it again to protect not only Josh, but all of them. I wanted to forgive myself more than anything but I didn't want to justify my actions or forget what I had done either. It still hurt inside that I had done something so atrocious and I was supposed to just get on with it as though nothing had happened, like what the rest of the company were doing. Did my actions make me a monster?

I looked at Josh, and noticed how worried and tired he looked. He had killed some of those creatures too. _Hang on_. Did it make me think of _him_ any less? Did it make me feel repulsed by him, or see him as a monster or a murderer?

No, it didn't.

So why was I beating myself up over it? Why was I worried about being a horrible person, when I didn't see my brother as a monster for doing the exact same things as I had done?

"Josh, do you feel sickened by me after knowing what I did in the Goblin Tunnels? Do you feel as though I am less of a person, knowing that I am a murderer? He looked at me in almost disbelief before replying.

"Of course I don't Amelia! Why the hell would you think that? It just proves that you are even stronger than I already knew you were."

My mind felt clearer than it had in days. If I was to blame myself for what I had done, then it would be as though I was blaming Josh for it too, because we had taken the exact same actions. I would never blame Josh or hold what he did against him, so why should I do that to myself? Obviously I had a long way to go to get over what had happened, but at least that was a start.

I smiled at Josh, thankful for the epiphany that I had just experienced.

"We don't see each other as monsters, so we shouldn't see ourselves as horrible people for the same reason.. Understand?" Josh looked at me blankly at first, but soon realised what I had meant and nodded in understanding. A smile graced his lips and he looked more himself than he had in days.

"I understand. We get through this together, okay?" I squeezed the hand that still held his, and smiled gratefully. The darkness that had been gnawing at my chest seemed to relinquish for the moment, to my utter relief.

Oin had come back then, holding a bowl of water and a small cloth. Fili moved aside slightly but didn't leave my side, watching me carefully as Oin wiped at my scrapes and scratches. I damned my clumsiness and stupidity at falling over. Then I realised what had caused me to trip, and I snapped my head upwards to ask about what had happened.

I forgot that Oin was tending to my face and I almost knocked him off balance by my sudden movements. He frowned at me and I mumbled an apology as I began to ask about the creature we had seen.

"What was that thing that was outside? That was fighting off the Wargs? I'm glad as hell that it had distracted the Orcs enough for us to get away, but I sure wouldn't want to come across that thing ever again. It was terrifying." Oin grumbled something under his breath before replying.

"The creature is a skin changer. Nasty business if you ask me, all curses and dark magic. It is half man, half bear. It can change into either at will." He frowned as he spoke, then mumbled something about finding an ointment and he left.

Okay, that had definitely taken me by surprise. Trying to expect anything in this world really wasn't working, when things kept popping up that I had barely imagined before. A half man, half bear. _Absolutely freaking ridiculous._

I looked back at Fili, and he was still eying me intently despite me feeling much better than I had in days.

"I'm okay, Fili, don't worry," I said quietly, smiling as I did so in an attempt to reassure him. He just frowned even further, but nodded and stood to leave.

"Oh, and thank you," I said, reaching for his hand to hold him in place as I spoke. He looked back at me then with a smirk at his lips and mirth in his eyes.

"You can't keep your hands off of me can you?" he said quietly enough that no one else could hear, excepting Josh that still sat next to me. Fili grinned from ear to ear, and he laughed heartily as I replied.

"Yeah, and the next time it will be me whacking you over the head," I retorted with a smirk. He winked at me as he continued to chuckle while walking away, leaving Josh and I sitting alone on the wooden floor in the large house.

"You really like him, don't you?" Josh said from my side. I turned my head to look at him, to gauge his expression. His eyes looked as though they actually sparkled, a range of emotions lingering in the depths of his eyes. By the wide smile that had set on his face, it seemed as though he looked like he already knew the answer to his own question. Despite that, I answered anyway, finally voicing my feelings for the dwarf. If I was going to tell anyone, it would be Josh.

"I.. Yeah, I do.. Is that weird? I mean.. We are in a completely different world and I have feelings for someone that isn't even human.." He nodded, looking at me in understanding.

"I think that you've finally found somewhere that you belong. I mean we both have, really." I sometimes forgot how young Josh actually was, especially when he spoke with the knowledge and maturity of someone much older. I couldn't have been a luckier sister.

"You have grown up so much Josh. I am so proud of you." He smiled broadly at my words and I pulled him into a tight hug. I felt so much better after talking to him, and the anxiety that had been weighing on me for the past few days had lifted. I was so proud of him and so glad that he had gotten out of the Goblin Tunnels safely.

I held onto the feelings of love and pride that swelled in my heart and in my soul. If our mum was here to observe and witness how much Josh had grown, and how strong he had become, she would be so happy. Keeping those feelings at the forefront of my mind, we stood and made our way through the large house to where the rest of the company were.

Finally having a chance to take in the surroundings around me, I was in awe at the place we were sheltered in. Firstly, it was huge! I mean I was pretty short to begin with, but even Josh wouldn't have been able to reach the roof if he had jumped as high as he could. It was ridiculously enormous and made me feel even tinier than I was.

Everything was carved beautifully out of mahogany coloured wood. The ground was also made from wood, though it seemed to be covered in hay as though we were in a barn. As though on cue, I heard a neighing noise from my right and saw that there were two horses in the large room, eying us intently.

They were absolutely beautiful and well groomed. Whoever lived here really took care of them. I looked into their eyes and was taken aback; I knew that horses were intelligent, but the ardent consciousness that I could see within their depths was staggering. It was as though they knew exactly who we were and what we were doing.

Instead of following Josh to the enormous carved table to my left that the dwarves were currently speaking with Gandalf at, I covered the small distance between me and the horses. They didn't seem afraid of my approach and I sighed a little in relief; I didn't want them to be spooked in the enclosed area.

"Hello beautiful," I whispered to the both of them, standing in front of the two and slowly lifting my hands up to meet their faces. I stroked the muzzles of each of them, murmuring words and asking questions as I watched their eyes study me back. I felt like they could understand every word I was saying, and while it unnerved me slightly, it also made me feel mostly comforted.

I continued to speak to them for a long time, letting the feel of their mane and muzzles reassure and relax me beyond words. Only half listening to Gandalf, I picked up on some of the things that he was telling the Dwarves, Josh and Bilbo.

"The man who lives here is named Beorn. As I have already informed most of you, Beorn was the skin-changer that fought away the Wargs this afternoon." There were a few grumbles of unhappiness from the company, but Gandalf ignored them and continued. "He will not be back for the night. There are provisions in his store room and I daresay that we can help ourselves to _some _of his food"- Gandalf looked pointedly at Bombur then- "But Beorn does not eat meat. He treats animals as his kin and does not care to see harm done to them."

The company _really_ complained about this. They were _not_ happy about the lack of meat over the past few weeks, and voiced their annoyances, though Gandalf shut them down immediately.

"Beorn does not take kindly to those who harm animals, I cannot stress this enough. Do not go outside tonight. He often changes shape during the hours of darkness, and you do not want to be in his path when he is in his other form. It is getting dark, and sleep will serve each of you well."

With that, Gandalf stood and left the company. I vaguely heard them discussing sleeping arrangements as I went back to focussing on the horses I was still stroking. It was incredible how being in the presence of these intelligent animals was so easily melting away the fear, anxiety and guilt I had felt.

The company began to move, finding blankets and some food for each of us. We didn't get too much to eat just in case Beorn didn't take well to having us stay here, but the bread and honey still managed to fill my stomach. We all decided to sleep in the main room of the house, which seemed to be equivalent to a living area. There was plenty of space for all of us on the wooden floor, which was cushioned by the hay that lay strewn everywhere.

Bilbo didn't seem to take to well to this, as he was constantly sneezing and complaining about his allergies. Despite this, I managed to fall asleep very quickly. I was still so exhausted and I dozed away into sleep, lying next to Josh with Fili and Kili close by my other side.

The nightmares didn't relent that night. I dreamt again of Goblins crawling over and suffocating me, and of my friends and family with blood dripping down their faces. This time though, they whispered horrific things to me.

"You're a murderer."

"You are atrocious."

"You disgust us."

"You disgrace us."

I woke up again to arms holding mine down as I struggled and fought against them. I couldn't find my voice to scream or shout, but I thrashed against the grip on me. My mind finally cleared enough to hear Fili whispering into my ear, saying my name and trying to calm me.

"Amelia, shh, it is okay. It was only a nightmare. You are safe." I stopped fighting when I realised that it was Fili who was holding me. With silent tears rolling down my cheeks, I quickly wrapped my arms around Fili's waist, and buried my face into his chest. He didn't shy away or become embarrassed, but instead moved me so that I was just about sitting on his lap.

He encircled me in his own arms, wiping the damp hair from my face and caressing my dark, messy locks. I focused my thoughts on the steady heartbeat I could feel pounding through his chest, and the smell of his skin. After a few minutes, my breathing slowed down to normal; my heart was still racing at a million miles an hour, though I doubted it was from the nightmare anymore.

Fili held me in his arms for a long time until I dozed off once more, and I vaguely felt him gently put me back down on the ground and cover me in my blanket. I felt like only seconds had past when I was woken again.

It was early morning, before the sun had even risen when I woke to the sound of growls and heavy movements just outside the door we had entered the day before. I jolted upright in realising that the door was creaking open, and I prayed it wasn't the bear from yesterday. Remembering how easily the creature had tossed around Orcs and Wargs as though they were plush toys sent shivers up my spine.

My prayers obviously weren't answered and I inhaled a deep breath in preparation to scream, as the large figure entered and moved towards the sleeping company.

* * *

**I hope everyone is going well! Apologies for the late update, Comic Con was hectic last weekend and I had some assignments to finish this week. Good news is that I am on uni holidays so I hope to upload a fair few chapters over the next few weeks!**

**Please review/follow/favourite, I love hearing from you guys! Have a safe weekend :)**

***_Dolzekh Menu_- Thank you***


	14. Chapter 14

The intake of air caught in my throat when I realised that the figure in front of me wasn't a bear, or some other creature. I could see from the sliver of moonlight shining through the window that it was a man. A very, very tall man. Also, a very naked man.

_Oh my god._

I quickly rolled back onto my side, moving towards and facing Fili, hoping that he didn't realise that I had seen. By the slight chuckle of laughter I heard, he had obviously noticed that I was awake.

_Holy shit, I've never been so embarrassed in my life._

The wood beneath us creaked slightly as I heard his heavy footsteps move away from us. There was a neighing from the other room, and I could hear deep voiced murmurs from the man. I assumed that he was talking to his animals, and I also figured that man was Beorn. I was just thankful that he wasn't in his bear form, despite getting the shock of my life.

I moved closer to the sleeping Fili beside me, but I couldn't get back to sleep myself. It was only a little while before the early morning light began to stream through the windows, and the company started to stir from their slumber.

Fili awoke lazily, stretching his arms above himself before rolling back towards me and slowly opening his eyes. It took him a few moments to register just how close his proximity was to me, and when he did realise he just about jumped backwards. He had moved so suddenly that he had whacked into his brother who was still sleeping behind him with a loud '_thwack!_'

Kili yelped in surprise and the two began to argue about whose fault it was. It gave me a few seconds to try and collect myself. Truly, his reaction stung and feelings of hurt bubbled around in my stomach once again. His actions and reactions almost showed two different personalities and it was confusing the crap out of me. One minute he was trying to court me, and the next he was scrambling to get away from me as though I had the plague.

When he finally stopped arguing with a now fully awake Kili, he looked again at me. I just glared at him and turned to wake up Josh, who had surprisingly slept through all of the noise. Most of the company were already awake by now, moving about the house and finding food.

"Oi, wake up," I said none too gently to my brother, and he jerked upright. He looked startled and I didn't really need to question why his reaction would be like that. We were still restless from the events of the past week.

He calmed down almost instantly though, and we followed the company into the dining area where food had already been laid out on the table. There were several jugs of water and milk, bowls of honey, many loaves of bread and plates full of fruit and vegetables. I couldn't help but smirk at the reactions that I knew the dwarves would have, but before any of them could say anything, a voice that sounded like a deep rumble came from behind us.

"You will all need some breakfast before you explain to me exactly what your business is here." The entire company just turned around and froze in the sight of Beorn, who was thankfully now dressed. He was so tall, easily a metre taller than even Josh. You can just imagine how he dwarfed- ha ha- the rest of the company.

His hair was dark grey colour, and stuck out at all angles. Even his eyebrows and beard were the same colour, though they seemed much more groomed than his hair. Obviously groomed was an odd choice of word for someone who turned into a bear.

The dwarves still hadn't moved, but I see Ori and Bilbo slink a little back from the towering man. Even I took half a step behind Dwalin, who was standing slightly in front of me; he was just so intimidating, and I remembered the way he had thrown around the Orcs. He must have seen me move, because his eyes moved to mine. I saw his lips turn upwards faintly in a smirk, and I realised he knew exactly who had been awake this morning. Fuck.

I averted my eyes to look at my feet as I felt my cheeks redden, and he suddenly spoke again.

"Come now, eat. I want to hear of your business with the Orcs." The company reluctantly moved to the table to sit down, and I made sure I situated myself away from the head of the table where he had sat. I was sitting in between Dwalin and Josh, with Fili and Kili sitting opposite me.

Despite my loss of appetite, I forced myself to eat large quantities of fruit, bread and milk. Having had the displeasure of not knowing where my next meal would be coming from psychologically allowed me to eat even though my stomach didn't agree.

The only thing that sounded truly appetising was a cheeseburger. Even thinking about the damned thing was making my mouth water.

I realised that I hadn't been paying attention to anything the company or Beorn was saying, though in focusing, they were only recapping everything that we had gone through with the Orcs and Goblins. Beorn roared with laughter when Gandalf told him about how we had basically started throwing fireballs at the Wargs. It was a while before he could truly calm down enough for them to continue telling the story.

All in all, he seemed to be fairly impressed with our journey and the company's hate for the Orcs and Goblins. He shared this feeling and begun to speak about why he loathed the two species of creatures.

Apparently Azog, the Pale Orc, had imprisoned Beorn and his family a long time ago just for fun, to torture them. He was sullen when he revealed he was the only one of his kind left. I felt for him then. I couldn't imagine it being a good life when you had lost all of your family, and the creature that had killed them was still alive.

I realised that Thorin could relate to Beorn in this sense, and I hoped that it would make it easier to get this man's help. We needed food and supplies to keep going onto Erebor, and there was no way we could do it without Beorn's help.

Beorn eyed Thorin intently, and finally replied when no one else spoke.

"It is known that I dislike dwarves. You are selfish and put your lives above those you deem unimportant. However, I _loathe_ Orcs and Goblins. You and your company have my help with your travels. I will grant you access to my supplies and ponies, but stay as long as you need. Your company needs the rest, I daresay." Beorn then stood abruptly, and after a glance in my direction, moved away and left through the large door.

It took but a few seconds for Thorin to turn into the leader again.

"We will leave mid-afternoon."

Without meaning to, I had verbalised a groan so loud that even Thorin snapped his head towards me with eyebrows raised as if to say, _'explain?'_

Shit. Everyone was looking at me expectantly, and I cleared my throat in an attempt to play for a little bit of time while I got my thoughts together coherently.

"I just, uh, think that we should rest for a few days. Thorin, you were almost killed a few days ago, and we haven't had much sleep or food for over a week. We should get our energy back before we leave, and it will give us time to gather what we need."

The company were dead silent. I was almost about to blurt an apology when Thorin replied. His face was a mask and I didn't know what he was going to say until the words came out of his mouth.

"Fine. But only two days. We leave midday, the morrow after next. We will need rest for the journey, as the Mirkwood Forest lies ahead." With that, Thorin stood to leave in the same direction as Beorn. I exhaled, realising that I had been holding my breath.

The company went back to eating the rest of the food, though not with the enthusiasm I had seen when I had first met them at Bilbo's house in The Shire. I felt a bit better realising that we had a few days to get our shit together before we left again. The first thing I thought of was how badly I needed a bath. I hadn't cleaned myself properly since leaving Rivendell, just over a week ago.

Talk about disgusting.

I didn't really know who to ask about whether Beorn had a bathing room I could use or anything. I wondered if he even had one. I mean, he was a bear, so he could probably just go swimming in the river or something.

Noticing Gandalf had stood to duck away, I jumped up as well to follow. He had reached the separate room when I had caught up.

"Hey Gandalf, is there anywhere I can, um.. Wash up?" Gandalf turned around and cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. Why was everyone all touchy when I mentioned bathing? I narrowed my eyes at him until he replied.

"Yes, Miss Amelia. There is the river that runs just behind Beorn's house, and you are free to wash there.. Though I would take care. While the Orcs have been cleared from the area, you still have to worry about the company accidently stumbling across you.." He was looking anywhere but at my face while he spoke, and then turned to leave once he had finished.

Great. I had no idea how I was going to manage this, and I groaned even thinking about it.

I went back to the table and sat down next to Josh. I didn't join in any of their conversations, still in thought about how I could go and bathe. After a while, I remembered that Josh had a spare tunic and pants, from when he changed into the Elves clothes and out of Bilbo's. I could use that to change into until my other clothes dried.

Now I just needed someone that I could trust to stand watch while I washed. Fili was the first to pop into my head, though he was being odd with me today so maybe not. I could ask Ori or Bilbo, but I think they would be way too uncomfortable, so that really only left Josh that could make sure no one would cop an eyeful. He could just stand watch behind a tree or something.

I figured the best opportunity would be to go now while the company were still eating.

"Josh, can you help me with something?" I spoke quietly, as Josh just nodded with a mouthful of bread.

"I need to go and uh, have a bath but I need someone to stand watch so no one sees me in the nude. That would be so embarrassing."

I didn't realise that it couldn't have been more embarrassing than what I had just said, apparently a little louder than I hoped. I heard someone choking on their drink before I turned around to see Nori across the table, spluttering his water everywhere.

Next to him, Ori had turned a bright shade of red, while the rest of the company were looking anywhere but at me. Bofur and Kili, on the other hand, were absolutely enjoying the reaction of the dwarves around them.

"You alright there Ori!" Kili yelled across at the young dwarf, who really looked like a tomato now. Bofur and Kili began to roar with laughter, as they threw food at Nori and Ori. Fili just looked across the table at me with his jaw agape, his expression that of utter horror and a small hint of amusement.

"What did I say?" I was so confused; surely that wouldn't have caused the reaction it did! I looked at Josh for help, but he looked as confused as me, though he was finding Kili and Bofur's antics quite amusing. It was Kili who answered me after he had calmed down enough.

"It is not.. Not very lady-like to talk about such matters to men, especially at the dining table!" Some of the company grunted in agreement, most of which were still avoiding eye-contact.

"Well I'm sorry I haven't had a bath in a week and feel the need to wash myself." I heard someone else choke on their food, so I continued to try and lighten the mood. "Besides, how am I supposed to act like a lady when I'm surrounded by smelly, bearded men all the time!"

That got a better reaction than my previous comments. Bofur and Kili absolutely lost it, their laughter echoing through the house. Even Bombur, Balin and Bilbo had joined in. Nori had begun to argue with Gloin and Ori about who smelt worse, and even Dwalin and Fili had smirked at me.

I stood to leave then, dragging a chuckling Josh behind me. We collected our rucksacks and left the house where the company were still arguing and laughing amongst each other.

Walking out into the fresh morning air was relieving. The sun was shining down on the green grass and forests surrounding the house. I looked to where Beorn had been as a bear the day before, but pushed those images aside quickly. That wasn't really what I wanted to think about right now.

We walked outside of the wooden fence and moved around the side of Beorn's home, towards where Gandalf said the river stretched. After a few minutes, and a quick walk through some thick trees that lie just behind his house, we came to the river.

Josh quickly took out his spare clothes from his rucksack, gave them to me and with a quick smile, moved back to the tree line out of view. I looked around me, noticing that I would be pretty well covered under the thick forest around us and the river looked to be deep enough to fully submerse myself. It seemed to be deeper in areas, and I probably would have been able to stand without worrying about flashing anyone.

Without further hesitation, I took my shoes off and jumped into the water. I took off my clothes while in the water, just in the off chance that anyone that came across me. I doubted any of the company would stray back out here after our conversation earlier though.

Rinsing my clothes, I could see the brown and red from the dirt and blood that had stained my shirt and pants. It was truly disgusting. After washing each piece, I laid them out on the rocky ground next to me. Hoping that my underwear and bra didn't take too long to dry, I focused on scrubbing down every inch of myself. Realising I probably still had Goblin blood on me made me feel sick.

I was in the river for probably an hour or so. My hair was an absolute bird's nest so I took special care to scrub it and run the knots and tangles out with my fingers. To say it was mission impossible is an understatement. Josh had called out a few times to make sure I was alright, but besides that it was quiet and peaceful. I could hear birds chirping and singing, and the sound of the water flowing around me was fantastic.

Feeling glad that I had told Thorin we should stay longer, I left the river and quickly put on my now dry lingerie and the clothes that Josh had given me, because my pants and tunic were still damp.

I couldn't even believe how much better I felt in simply being clean. Collecting my belongings, I looked at my surroundings. The sun was shining high in the blue sky; the light green and yellowing leaves on the trees around me rustled in the breeze; the pristine water of the river drifted lazily around the rocks and down the current. Everything just seemed so perfect.

After a few moments of just taking everything in, I moved back into the trees to Josh. He was leaning against a tree, just looking up into the canopy above him. He seemed to mirror how I felt currently; content.

"Do you want to clean up?" He grinned and jumped up, already moving to the river. I sat where he had just been, and leaned my head against the tree at my back. The sunlight streamed through the foliage well above my head. It was beautiful.

My own clothes soon finished drying, so I quickly changed into them and folded Josh's. I had a feeling he wouldn't wear them again though, because they were too small for him.

After about an hour, Josh came back wearing what looked to be now clean and mostly dry clothes.

"Even though that wasn't a hot shower, it was damn good!" The smiling Josh helped me up and we began to walk back. We took our time, not really needing to rush anywhere. It felt good after spending the better part of the last two months running.

"You seem better today," Josh said, turning his head slightly to look at me. I just smiled in return.

"Yeah, and you do too." We continued to walk for a while longer before he spoke again.

"Are you still having nightmares though?" I was slightly taken aback by the suddenness of his question, but I wasn't willing to dwell on it too much.

"I have been, but I'll be fine. Fili has been helping me with them." I smiled at him again, honestly trying to convey that I was alright. It's not that the nightmares weren't bad; they were absolutely horrible and they made me feel terrible if I thought too much about them. It's just that I had Fili to calm me down and I had Josh and the rest of the company to keep my mind off of them during the day.

We didn't speak any longer, but were comfortable enough just being in each other's company.

By the time we made our way back, it was lunch time and the company were again eating. We joined them and dug in, listening to their banter and joining in on their various conversations. Bofur winked at me from across the table, and I just threw the nearest bread roll at him.

"Oi!" He yelled as it hit him squarely on the forehead. He began to laugh as Kili threw some other food product at him, and it would have turned into a full scale food fight if Thorin hadn't stopped us. I think he was less inclined to ruin Beorn's home, though a food fight in Rivendell wouldn't have fazed him at all. Had he been there during that, he probably would have led the assault of food against Lord Elrond.

That didn't dampen their moods though. Once they finished their food, they all moved outside to go and bathe in the river themselves. Kili dragged Josh along, even though he had already washed. Even Bilbo went along after Bofur convinced to join the group, though he had grown supremely nervous about it. He was someone who barely had social visitors; I could hardly see him jump into a river in the nude with a bunch of hairy dwarves.

I stayed in the house and started to clean up the dining table of the mess that the dwarves had created. I started to regret throwing the food around. Sighing, I cleared the plates, wiped down the enormous table that I was only just able to reach over and picked scraps off of the floor. It was when I stood up again that I realised I was being watched.

"Oh fuck," I exclaimed as I jumped about a metre in the air, seeing that Beorn was standing at the end of the table with his arms crossed, watching me.

"I'm sorry to startle you. Miss Amelia, am I right?" I nodded and replied to him.

"Just Amelia. You scared the hell out of me." He just smirked at me and his answer made my cheeks flame in embarrassment.

"It wouldn't be the first time." He continued to smirk at me as I continued to clean up his dining room. He made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I just tried to relax. There was no point in freaking out just because he intimidated me. When I didn't reply, he asked me a question.

"Where are you from?" I just stared at him. What did he mean by that? Did he know that I wasn't from here?

"Far away from this place." I retorted, unwilling to tell him anything else.

"Why is it you are following those dwarves around then? They are stubborn and selfish, and do not care for others, such as animals, as you do. My friends here have told me of how you spoke to them when you first arrived, yet the rest of the company did not even give them a second glance. What is it you see in those dwarves?" He motioned towards his friends- the horses that I had talked to yesterday.

Ignoring what he had said about the company in an attempt to calm myself down from the anger that was starting to creep into my heart, I replied to his questions with one of my own.

"So you can understand the horses can you?" My voice was edged with sarcasm and I avoided his gaze by beginning to wipe down the chairs.

"Yes, I can. I am linked to animals due to my.. Nature. I can understand and communicate with them. I have answered your question, now you should answer mine."

Okay, that was it. Who was he to question why I was with the company, why I was 'following' them around as if I was their pet? I wasn't a damned child that he could try and chastise as if he was someone that was allowed to tell me what to do.

"I see loyalty, honesty and the willingness to protect their family. You dislike them for looking down on others, but that is exactly what you are doing right now. You don't even personally know them." I had looked at him then, standing with clenched fists by my side.

"But you are not their kin? You should know that it is extremely rare for a dwarf to see anyone unrelated to themselves, let alone a different race, as kin."

"Don't talk about things that you have no idea about. They have protected me more than you can even scratch the surface of." To my utter frustration, he just simply chuckled, eying me with amusement.

"You are an odd thing, are you not? You are human, yet possess the stubbornness and loyalty of a dwarf, but the compassion and temper of a skin-changer. I can see that now. If it is your wish to stay here instead of continuing on _their_ journey, you are free to do so. The animals here have taken a liking to you." On that note, he left with a small smirk which made me think that the horses weren't the only animals he was talking about.

The anger drained out of my body and I was left feeling slightly deflated. The way that he had said it was _their_ journey, implied that he thought I didn't belong with them. It left doubt in my mind, especially after he had said how unlikely it was that they saw _me_ as family.

Needing to escape and get some fresh air, I quickly moved outside through the back entrance. I sat down against the outside of the wooden fence that encircled the house, and closed my eyes. _For fucks sake; I was having a good day too_. I emptied my mind and tried to focus on the sounds around me to calm myself down.

That was when I heard it.

There were yells coming from the direction the river was; I couldn't see anything through the thick trees, but I knew that it was the company. _Oh my god_, _what if the Orcs had come back_. A thousand thoughts rushed through my head. They didn't have weapons. They weren't prepared, no, no, no.

I ran back into the house to grab my twin blades and sprinted back out the door and through the woods. The thought of them being defenceless against the Orcs made my stomach churn, but it spurred me to move faster towards the source of the noise.

The yelling was becoming louder, and I could finally see the tree line thinning. I burst through the forest, into the small clearing next to the lake, to see something so horrible that I had to close my eyes. I couldn't believe it.

They were all naked.

They were naked and atop each other's shoulders, trying to topple each other over in some type of game.

What the hell.

I started to make small steps backwards with my eyes closed, hoping beyond hope that they hadn't seen me. It was in vain.

"Oi lass, if you wanted to join us, all you had to do was ask!" I recognised Bofur's voice and excepting the laugh that came from him and Kili, I heard nothing but silence. I didn't dare open my eyes again; I had seen quite enough.

"I, ugh.. I heard the yells.. I thought that, um, there were Orcs, or.." I trailed off sounding completely and utterly stupid. This was so humiliating.

"And you were going to fight them off by yourself!" Kili yelled, trying to contain the eruption of laughter that I knew was coming. I didn't respond, but I instead turned around, opened my eyes and bolted back through the forest to the house with the howls of laughter following me.

They would never let me live that down, ever. Not to mention that the image of all of them stark naked was going to be scarred in my mind forever didn't make me feel any better. How utterly embarrassing. I felt like it was becoming a running theme today.

I moved into the house and lay down on my blanket and cloak, where I had slept the night before. It was almost evening by now, and I sighed. I had begun to doze off when I heard the noises of the company returning through the front entrance.

Wishing more than anything that there was a rock I could crawl under, I stood up to face the further humiliation that was about to come my way.

* * *

**Hello everyone :) This chapter is a bit lighter and a bit cheeky! I feel like I want to have one or two chapters of more bonding and more light-hearted interactions between the company, especially because Mirkwood Forest is ahead and it's going to get a bit rough for them from here on out. That is why I've chosen to have them stay at Beorn's house for a few days.**

**I will probably have one more chapter here before they move on; I also hope to update again by the end of the week!**

**Thanks to Fleursoh and Shadowsammy for your reviews! :) And thank you to my new followers :D Have a great day!**


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay, before you say anything or laugh at me again, I am so, so sorry. When I heard you guys yelling I honestly thought that the Orcs had come back. I did the first thing I thought of."

Most of them looked embarrassed. Some of them glared at me. Some of them just smirked, and unsurprisingly it was Bofur that replied first with a grin on his face.

"Oh, tis alright lass! I'm sure you didn't mind the view," he winked and patted me on the shoulder as he passed to make his way to the dining room.

"No, I'm actually scarred for life now. I'm probably going to need a counsellor for all the damage it's done me." A few of them chuckled, but for the most part they all moved past without a word or glance in my direction. _Yeah, great work Amelia._

It was actually Thorin that stopped before he passed me and spoke, his face emotionless but eyes intent.

"Despite you causing embarrassment to most of the company, your heart was in the right place." He simply nodded and then left, leaving me to stand there. Thorin's hot/cold personality was getting hard to predict. I sighed, and then saw it was Fili who had brought up the rear of the group, looking at me with a mix of emotions that I couldn't quite discern. I figured that I might as well ask about his strange mood while the rest of the group were in the other room, talking too loud to hear our conversation.

"Hey, what's up with you? Why were you acting weird this morning?" His eyes widened slightly and he began fidgeting with his hands as he took his time to reply.

"No, nothing is wrong Miss Amelia." I narrowed my eyes at him, his lying so obvious that I wasn't even half convinced.

"I'm not buying it. I saw the way you reacted when you saw how close I was to you. Is it something to do with your traditions again?" He exhaled, slumping his shoulders in the process.

"It is not proper to, uh.. To lie with someone before marriage.." I was at my wits end; the embarrassment I had felt today, not to mention the conversation I had with Beorn, and now this, was frustrating me beyond belief.

"You know I wish you would tell me about this stuff _before_ I did something wrong! We have been sleeping near to each other the whole time we've been travelling so I don't understand why it's a problem now." I lowered my voice slightly before continuing, cutting off what Fili was about to say.

"Besides, the only reason I was so close to you was because Beorn came into the house, completely bloody naked not to mention, and scared the hell out of me! What was I supposed to do? I felt better being closer to you." I felt deflated by the last sentence, through revealing how he made me feel safe. Despite this admission, Fili's head snapped upwards and his eyes showed what looked like anger.

"He.. He walked in, without clothes on and you saw him?" I didn't really understand his reaction. I had just seen him and the whole company stark naked this afternoon, but he didn't seem to be angry about that. I guessed that most of our group distrusted Beorn though, as I had noticed the day before with Oin's reactions to him as a skin-changer.

"Yeah, well it wasn't really avoidable, I thought that it was him in bear form! Anyway, it's not like I haven't seen that before. I mean it's not really what I wanted to see, but it's nothing. You don't need to be angry about it." Holy shit, _that _was most definitely the wrong thing to say. His shoulders tensed, and where there was anger in his eyes before, there was rage. He was absolutely fuming.

"What do you mean, you've seen that before?" He spoke his words through clenched teeth, attempting to control himself. I didn't know what to say. Scrambling my thoughts together, I finally understood why he was so angry.

It was against his traditions; he had just said that it was unacceptable to sleep with someone before marriage. _Great._ This wasn't something he was going to take lightly; I vaguely wondered if he would stop his gestures of courtship if he knew that I had slept with someone previously, before I shakily spoke in defence of myself.

"Fili.. I told you about how it was different it was back in our world, marriage isn't something that is really important there. Most people don't wait until marriage, to.. Um.. _Lie_ with their partner." When I looked at his eyes again, I saw hurt flash across them before the anger returned.

"You've.. You.. But.." He shook his head angrily, and then his expression went blank. His face was like a mask, and I swear he was almost a clone of Thorin then. I was so shocked that I couldn't even stop him when he moved past me to join the company.

I knew that it wasn't my fault and there was nothing that I could do, but he made me feel extremely guilty. The hurt that flashed across his eyes was something that I had only seen once before; when he was having his nightmares and thought that Kili had been injured.

There wasn't anything I _could_ do though. Ideals and life choices were much different in my world; there wasn't a pressure to wait for marriage, or to even get married at all. I couldn't apologise for doing something that I had thought right at the time, something that I had no idea would be frowned upon in my future. I had no fucking idea I was going to end up in Middle Earth.

What was I going to do though? I wasn't going to apologise for my actions, but I could apologise for how it made him feel. It wasn't like this changed me; I was still the same person that he had begun to like and started to court. I just hoped he saw it the same way, though the knots that had formed in my stomach made me doubt myself.

I walked back into the dining room and sat with the company, eating dinner without joining into their chitchat. I stole glances across the table at Fili, who was silent as well, his emotionless mask in place.

We had eaten and the dwarves had bantered with each other for probably an hour or so before the company dispersed to go to sleep. I attempted to pull Fili aside to speak to him, but it was in vain. He was definitely trying to avoid me.

Instead, I went straight to my belongings and lay down to sleep. I felt sick to the stomach. I didn't want to fight with anyone within the company, but knowing it was Fili that was angry and hurt by my past made me feel even worse. I heard everyone else go to their places and the talking died off a long time before I myself was able to fall asleep.

As I fully expected, I found myself dreaming. This time, the company were fine. They weren't bleeding or dead, but somehow this nightmare was worse. They were leaving me again; I was stuck where I stood and I could see all of them, even Josh, leaving me behind. I called out to all of them, but only Fili turned around.

I could see all too well the disgust and hatred engrained into his features, as he turned back around and left. Calling out to him, I saw them disappear and I was alone. I could hear the howls of Wargs, and I was absolutely terrified.

Jolting awake, I threw my arms around whoever was trying to calm me. It took me a while to actually realise that it was Fili, to my utter shock. He comforted me as he had done before; holding my body against his, stroking my back and whispering into my ear. There wasn't any hate, any hesitancy or any disgust. I let him continue for a while, when I croaked out my confusion through my dry throat.

"Why are you doing this? I thought you were angry at me." He sighed and spoke quietly after a few moments.

"I am not angry with you, _delva_. It is just.. Hard to think about." I looked up at him to see that he had closed his eyes in frowning. I moved my hand to his cheek, and forced him to open his eyes to look at me. I was taken aback by the hurt I saw evident there, but I cleared my throat and spoke.

"I can't apologise for what I've done in the world I grew up in. It was different there in so many ways.. I am sorry for the way I told you and the way I made you feel about it though. But I'm still the same person, Fili; I haven't changed at all, unless you see me differently now.."

Honestly expecting him to tell me that it was different now, and the way that he thought about me had changed, I was surprised that he told me the complete opposite.

"You are still the same in my eyes, Amelia. You are still strong and loyal; you are still you." He kissed my forehead then, and my jaw just gaped in surprise. I didn't think that he would accept me or want me after telling him something so personal, something that upset him so much. Obviously his hurt wasn't going to go away immediately, but he wasn't going to ditch me because of my past.

My heart swelled with emotions for him; up until that point, I had found him attractive and really liked him. But now.. Now, it was more.. It was raw and overwhelming and all-encompassing.

I tilted my head towards his, gathered my courage and pressed my lips against his. It lasted only a moment before he moved his head away from mine, looking down at me in a mix of surprise and mirth.

"You don't enjoy following tradition, do you?" He said, quickly getting over the shock and chuckling quietly.

"How could I? Apparently I'm not even allowed to kiss you without your damn permission." I smirked at him through the moonlight-splayed darkness. In the soft light, I could see a flicker of something in his eyes, before his smirk turned into a gentle smile and he moved his lips to mine.

I felt dizzy with the movement; his lips against mine made my stomach turn in nervousness and my head spin. His lips were soft and warm, and sweet with the vague taste of honey and milk. My grip on his shirt tightened slightly as our lips moved gently against each other, but I felt as though all of the nerves in my body were alight.

Fili pulled away slightly, gasping faintly as he rested his forehead on mine. Being in his arms was nothing like I had ever felt. I definitely hadn't felt like this when I was with my ex-partner in my old world; it felt like a dull memory from someone else's life now.

"I feel as though you purposely force me to wake you up from your nightmares, just for moments like this," he whispered cheekily to me, his grin still in place on his face.

"Why are you complaining?" I said to him, winking as I moved back to lie on my blanket.

"I would never think to complain, _delva_."

I chuckled, wrapping myself in my cloak as I dozed off into nightmare-less sleep.

* * *

The next morning after breakfast, Bofur, Bilbo, Josh, Nori, Ori, Kili, Fili and I went to the river just to relax. Bofur had told us that the company were going to be collecting the things we needed for the rest of the journey that morning, so Josh and I decided to kind of sit back while they did all the work.

We didn't realise that Bilbo and five of the dwarves enjoyed our idea and decided to follow us, planning to prepare later that afternoon.

We found a grassy area near to the river, which was quite soft to lie on. Josh, Bilbo, Ori and I laid down and watched the white clouds drift across the sky, while the others wrestled with each other, attempting to knock the other into the river.

I tried to think of what I would be doing, right now, back in our world instead of this. It made it hard to guess because I had no idea what day it actually was, but I figured I would be studying or watching one of my favourite TV shows.

"Hey Josh, do you miss any TV shows at all?" I asked randomly, throwing my errant thoughts into the air.

"What are '_Tee-Veee'_ shows, Miss Amelia?" Bilbo asked curiously. I looked over to see that Ori had sat up and opened his notebook with a pencil in hand, gazing at me intently. I had a feeling that the young dwarf had picked up much more than he let on about where we had come from; he seemed entirely too curious and interested in our strange words for someone who was completely ignorant.

"It's like.. A story is played out by people, who act different roles, or play different characters. It's shown to audiences, like other people, who watch it because they are interested in the story. There are lots of different ones. My favourite ones were always the medical or crime ones." Bilbo looked at me with slight confusion but with overwhelming interest. Ori was frantically scribbling words into his notebook.

I had almost religiously followed Criminal Minds; because I was doing a psychology course, it was really understandable to be honest.. I also had a guilty pleasure of watching and re-watching lots of medical-drama shows. Grey's Anatomy was a big yes for me. It wasn't that I wanted to be a doctor or anything, but it was always so interesting to watch the procedures (though they would probably make me gag now), and there was always McDreamy. _Sigh._

Bilbo had re-asked my question that was directed at Josh; he seemed to be genuinely curious about what Josh had to say. My brother answered, and then began to excitedly explain the storyline of Game of Thrones to the hobbit. It was quite amusing to see his facial expressions as Josh described certain plots and characters.

"She- a human- was a _mother_ to three _dragons_?" Bilbo exclaimed. I laughed at their conversation, and looked back to the sky. The sound of the other three dwarves was almost calming; their laughter and yelps made me smile, and the sun shining down on our faces was fantastic.

I was feeling great.

Ori continued to ask me questions about where I was from. While Bilbo and Josh were busy discussing whether Danerys was awesome or actually crazy, I decided to ask Ori something in return.

"Do you know where we are from Ori?" He looked up from his book at me, his eyes conveying knowledge and understanding in them. After a few moments, he replied.

"I know that you come from somewhere further away from here than anyone realises. Sometimes I wonder how you stumbled across the company." His voice was so innocent but his words were so wise. He had definitely picked up on much more than I had even noticed. I totally agreed with his statement; it had to be more than just dumb luck.

I thought about what Gandalf and Galadriel had said about there being a purpose for Josh and I being there, and I really wondered if we had found it yet or if it was still to come. The idea of having a purpose unnerved me; never before had I thought that I was worth something, or that I was doing anything for a bigger reason. I had just been getting through life without looking at the bigger picture; sure, I had been in university, but what meaning was there to my life?

As if he could read my thoughts, Ori began to ask about whether I had been taught to read and write. Apparently it wasn't very common amongst the dwarves to learn to do as such, and the fact that most of the company were able to was a real exception.

He continued to write as I attempted to explain university to him, and that I was doing a specialised education. As soon as I would finish answering one question he would ask another one. It was weird talking about our world to someone who had no idea about it at all, but it was also relieving to talk about it in the open. It made the fact that we were no longer there seem much more real, because in all honesty I thought that one morning I would wake up back in my own bed.

The more I thought about it, the more I realised I wished more than anything for that not to happen.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a splash, and realised that Bofur and Fili had managed to throw Kili into the river. When he emerged, he looked like a drowned rat and I couldn't help but laugh. It really was such a heart-warming and hilarious view; all of us were howling in laughter while Kili climbed out of the river, his under-shirt and pants soaked through. It was a good thing that he wasn't dressed in all of his gear, as he would have never dried.

Kili spotted Josh sitting on the grass, eyes closed in laughter, and before my brother could see, the dwarf ran over to him and tackled him. Josh yelped in surprise and started yelling at Kili, as his clothes were now almost as wet. From then on, Ori, Bilbo and I tried to muffle our laughter, lest we came to the same fate as Josh.

Enjoying the playful banter between all of us and seeing just how relaxed we were, made me feel really quite content. I wondered if it would be like this once the quest was over? I hadn't even thought that far ahead, though I guess I was still trying to wrap my head around really being here. What sort of life would I have? What would I do? The unknown really scared me; but then I remembered how Josh had convinced me into the unfamiliar when we had decided to help the dwarves on their quest.

We had jumped straight into the mother of all unknown and unbelievable, but we had made it this far. We had grown stronger and we had grown as individuals. I really saw how much Josh had matured since being here; he was always so smart for his age, but his outlook on the world had changed. I could see it in his stature; he no longer held his head low and hunched his shoulders, cowering and afraid to stand up for himself due to the fear of punishment.

Now he was confident, and while still afraid of what was in this world, he was no longer afraid of what he believed in and standing up for that belief. His main reason for staying here was to find an escape from the tortured life he had with our father, but he had also wanted to help the dwarves. He empathised with them and understood the loss that they had felt. His willingness to help had only intensified with each day we gotten to know the company.

I saw how he was now wrestling with and mucking around with Nori, Bofur, Fili and Kili, though Kili in particular. They honestly looked like they could be brothers with how close they were, and how at ease they were with each other. It made me so happy to know that he now had people that were like brothers to him. Damn Beorn and his belief that dwarves didn't accept anyone of a different race or family as kin. I was witnessing it right before my eyes; they cared about him and no one would make me doubt that again.

We had been out by the river for a few hours when Balin came out to find us. Apparently the rest of the company were eating lunch and had already packed up food and equipment needed for the rest of our travels when we were to leave tomorrow.

Reluctantly we followed Balin, realising that from tomorrow onwards wasn't going to be fun and games like today had been. We were going through some pretty dangerous areas from what I gathered, and we had to be serious from here on out. It seemed as though everyone else realised this too; Bofur, Nori, Fili and Kili had become solemn and were discussing plans with Balin.

For the rest of the afternoon, we packed our rucksacks with supplies that we were going to need; rope, different medicines that Oin had concocted, sacks of water and many portions of dried fruit, vegetables, nuts, bread and jars of honey. Beorn also gave blankets to each member of the company that had lost their sleeping bags in the Goblin Tunnels.

It was when I was in Beorn's pantry, collecting loaves of bread and different baked honey cakes that he spoke to me once more, asking about my decision on whether I was going to continue with the company. I honestly hadn't taken his offer seriously, but it didn't take me any hesitation to answer him.

"I know where I need to be Beorn, and you aren't going to make me change my mind." He smirked as he had done the previous day, and said something about knowing where to find him if I did change my mind. I hoped he didn't plan on holding his breath on that one.

That night would probably be one of the last nights of real comfort before we reached our destination, and each of the dwarves realised that. It wasn't to say that we didn't make the most of our last meal though; everyone was eating as though we weren't going to see food for weeks, and I was hoping that wasn't the case.

There was a feel of tension that hung in the air though, and I wasn't the only one that noticed it. It wasn't a surprise to me when Bofur stood atop his chair, and with his deep, melodic voice, began to sing.

_Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go  
To heal my heart and drown my woe.  
Rain may fall and wind may blow,  
And many miles be still to go,  
But under a tall tree I will lie,  
And let the clouds go sailing by._

By the end of the song each member of the company, even Bilbo, Josh and I, were standing atop our own chairs singing and clapping along to the tune. I honestly couldn't believe just how loud the dwarves voices were; it felt like I was half deaf after the song had finished.

We were all laughing and yelling when Bofur bowed deeply, a wide grin in place on his face. The whole atmosphere changed dramatically; I could see the twinkle in everyone's eyes and the smiles didn't leave their faces for the rest of the night. Even Thorin had a small smirk on his face as he watched the antics of Bofur and the rest of the company. Bilbo was sitting next to Balin, and was listening and laughing to something he was saying.

Even though I had nightmares that night, I remembered how happy the company were at dinner, and it made me feel much better. That memory wasn't something that I would ever forget.

* * *

The following morning we awoke to the sound of neighing from outside the house. Realising that Beorn had organised our transport to Mirkwood, Thorin ordered all of us to pack our belongings and load up the ponies. Gandalf told us that Mirkwood was half a day's travel East, and we were going to leave the ponies behind when we reached the edge of the forest.

Without any delay, we followed Thorin's instructions. Breakfast was rushed, but I saw many of the company downing more food than I could fathom eating, and that was saying something. After packing our belongings onto the ponies, Beorn appeared to see us off.

"The Mirkwood Forest is thick with illusion and deceit. Do not stray from the path; do not drink from the black river that flows through there; and do not eat any of the berries from the bushes. If you do not heed my warnings, it may be the last thing you ever do. I wish you speed in your travels, and my house is open, if you ever wish to come this way again."

Beorn and Thorin took each other's forearm in farewell, nodding to one another. Beorn then nodded to Gandalf, and after a glance in my direction, moved quickly into the forest in the opposite direction of where we were heading.

With that, we hopped onto our ponies and followed Gandalf atop his horse, across the fields towards Mirkwood. It didn't take very long at all to get to the forest. After a few hours, it was in our sight.

It looked like a fortress wall that spread as far as the eye could see; there was nothing but dead land that outstretched in front of us towards the dark, looming trees of the forest. It was almost like nothing had grown near to it in a long time. It made the skin crawl on the back of my neck. Realising that I couldn't even hear the chirping of insects or whistles of birds made me feel even more apprehensive.

The forest was deterring everything living from it, yet we were about to waltz straight in. My stomach tightened in anxious anticipation.

We closed the distance and stopped just as we reached the forest line. The pony that I was sitting on began to whimper and move backwards away from the trees in front of us. I tried to calm her down through talking to her and stroking her neck. She finally settled, but the rest of the company were having difficulties with their ponies. Each of them was trying to move as far away from the forest as they could.

I jumped off of my pony and quickly unbuckled my rucksack, scared that she was going to get more spooked and run away. Patting her muzzle, I gave her a quick kiss on the nose and beckoned her to go. She didn't even hesitate in galloping away from the forest, back to Beorn's home I supposed.

Bilbo's pony was giving him a real hard time; he couldn't even get down let alone take his belongings off of the saddle. I moved over to him and tried to calm down his pony so that he could actually get down without hurting himself. It's safe to say it took a little while before the pony completely settled enough for Bilbo to hop down.

Again, I stroked the muzzle of Bilbo's pony before I tapped her backside to push her to go. The rest of the company had managed to get off of their ponies, though they unbuckled their rucksacks before hoping down just in case they ran off with our bags.

It was lucky that they did; as soon as they jumped down, most of the ponies got even more spooked and bolted after the others in the opposite direction of where we were heading.

Gandalf's horse was now the only one that hadn't left. I looked to the wizard, and saw something in his eyes and expression that I only recognised as regret. I didn't understand why he would feel that way, until he spoke.

"This is where we must take separate paths, my friends. I have business in the South that must be attended to; this is, after all, your own journey."

My heart sank. He was really leaving us this time and I felt sick thinking that he wouldn't be there to help us. What if we ran into more Orcs? What if we got lost in the forest? I glanced at Bilbo and Josh, and they looked as though they felt the exact same way.

We were only on this journey because Gandalf had been the one to invite us on it and fight for us when the others doubted our abilities. He was the one who found us when we had ended up in a completely different world, scared and alone and trying to get through the hurt our previous lives had caused us. I hated that he was going to leave us. I had a feeling that it had to do with the evil he spoke to us about on our journey up to the Misty Mountains.

It was something that he had to do, because with the look of regret that I saw in his eyes, I felt like he didn't want to leave us. The company were pleading and complaining and arguing; they didn't want him to go either. Even Gloin and Nori were promising Gandalf gold if he continued on with us through the forest, which made me laugh bitterly in spite of the situation.

"From the beginning you dwarves have known that I wasn't to join you the entire journey. It is up to you now." Gandalf was about to turn and mount his horse once more, but I stopped him in his tracks by giving him the biggest hug I could manage for my size. Once I let go of Gandalf, Josh and Bilbo turned to do the same.

"You have changed, Bilbo Baggins." Gandalf said as he finally let Bilbo go. Bilbo looked up at Gandalf nervously, and spoke shakily after a few seconds.

"I meant to tell you, Gandalf.. I found something in the Goblin Tunnels.." Gandalf looked at Bilbo expectantly, with a frown etched deep into his face.

"What did you find? Bilbo, what was it you found?" He sounded almost urgent as he spoke, and I saw Bilbo shift again nervously, before holding his head high and speaking with confidence that wasn't there before. I couldn't help but notice that he was fidgeting with his pocket, like he did the day that we escaped from the Mountains.

The image stirred something in the back of my mind that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It was like I vaguely remembered something, but as though it was a lost dream, I couldn't place the reaction I had and why I felt as though I recognised it.

"My courage," was Bilbo's reply, and Gandalf sighed. He looked at the three of us before addressing the company as a whole.

"Master Bilbo, Master Joshua and Miss Amelia have shown their strength, and it would be wise of you to seek their help while you travel through Mirkwood and on the rest of your quest. Do not stray from the path and do not eat or drink anything you find in the forest! Good-bye, and I hope to see each of you before the end of your journey!"

And with that, Gandalf jumped atop his horse and rode away from us. No one spoke for a long time after he disappeared from our view, but it was Thorin to pull us back into the present and spur us onwards into the forest.

The company were hesitant at first, but their determination was found as Thorin urgently reminded us that we needed to be at the mountain as quickly as possible, if we were to find the hidden door. I had almost forgotten our conversations with Gandalf when travelling to find the company, and how he told us of the map that Elrond had studied. He had said that there was only one day that the door could be opened, and that day was soon approaching, according to the dwarves and their calendars.

Walking close to Josh and Bilbo, we began to travel through the darkening forest of Mirkwood, anxious of what was ahead.

* * *

**Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend, whether you're celebrating easter or not :)**

**The song that is in this chapter was one that was originally sung by Pippin and Sam in LoTR- I don't think it's too far-fetched that they may have learnt it from Bilbo, who could have learnt it on his own journey to Erebor, so that is why I have added that song in particular. What can I say! I love imagining Bofur singing lots of different songs to cheer the company up, though I don't have the creativity to make up a song myself haha.**

**The word _delva_ is a term of endearment among dwarves- I've basically just looked online for it :) I got the idea from _Akiluna_, an amazing writer (10/10 recommend checking out her fanfiction!); I just really loved the idea of having a Khazdhul word that Fili uses for Amelia :)**

**I really hoped this chapter was alright. When I was writing it, I kept coming to an argument between Fili/Amelia no matter what I did, so I rolled with it. I also wanted to put some more light hearted interactions with the company before they ventured into Mirkwood.**

**Thanks to my new followers/favouriters and reviewers (meganbuttorff1982, thank you for your review!). You guys are incredible. Stay safe :) **


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